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Synopsis

Lawyer and Politician Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court seeking directions against the government and the Bar Council of India to create an expert committee that would analyze the possibility of making a 3-year Bachelor of Law program for students after Class 12. 

Advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey, representing Upadhyay, highlighted numerous issues with the existing 5-year program and suggested that a 3-year curriculum would enable students to gain practical experience or progress through their studies more rapidly. He speculated that colleges might prefer the 5-year program to increase revenue, given their high tuition fees. Additionally, he noted that the lengthy duration of the program results in wasted time, disproportionately affecting financially disadvantaged students.

“Students are being cheated and they don’t even know it. Deceitfully, and that too in the name of education, parents’ hard-earned money is being drawn out of their bank accounts and into the treasury of management”, Advocate Dubey highlighted.

He argued that if other bachelor's degrees take 3 years, there's no reason the law can't. He also questioned if colleges are doing enough for internships, considering students still pay fees during them. He suggested a 3-year law degree after class 12 would help students prepare better for law exams, like how other graduates prepare for the IAS exam. He said the current system stops talented people from doing law and hurts girls' education in traditional families.

Furthermore, he emphasized that “in a stereotypical family, which does not consider education to be paramount for girls, a significant fee for a prolonged period of time proves to be more of an incentive to not educate their children, especially girls”.

He said it's better to compare a law degree with BA, B.Com, and B.Sc degrees, not engineering degrees, and pointed out that students shouldn't be forced into subjects they don't like. The plea emphasized, “Petitioner respectfully submits that if the colleges can give Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science degree immediately after the 12th standard in 03 years, then why is it not feasible to give Bachelor of Law degree in 03 years? Students don’t need a Bachelor of Arts to gain preliminary knowledge or law. Then why should Students be forced to waste 2 years obtaining it?”.

Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v Union Of India & Another