The Supreme Court, today, Monday, April 22, refused to entertain a plea seeking an expert committee to explore the possibility of starting a three-year LLB course in place of five after Class XII.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said that they need mature people to come into the profession, and the current five-year course has proven to be very beneficial, according to a report by ANI.
As the court was not convinced to entertain the plea, the petitioner sought to withdraw the PIL, which was allowed. The plea was filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.
About the petition
According to the petitioner, BTech through the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) takes four years of non-superfluous education, and that too in a specified field of engineering, whereas BA-LLB or BBA-LLB through the National Law Universities (NLUs) consumes five years of a student's life while providing knowledge of Arts and Commerce, an unrelated and superfluous stream. Hence, a five-year course is irrational, reported ANI.
"A student may be perfectly fine with opting for science in 12th grade, but it would be harassing and encumbering for him to mandatorily study Arts or Commerce in the course. It is a transgression of Article 21, as the right to free will is being violated," the petitioner has said.
The lengthy and exorbitant course is disincentivising students from pursuing law. The students are rather pursuing engineering, civil services, or other courses. BA and LLB, or BBA and LLB, are both graduation courses, and thus, there is no need for both in a student's career.
Annual fees of a five-year course are comparatively greater than that of a three-year course, the petition said.
"It is denying the students to pursue a single graduation course after 12th grade. The purpose of any Course is to provide just the essential knowledge required for a student's career and not to barrage a student with all kinds of knowledge, as they are innumerable. In no way is BA essential to studying LLB. It is certainly good to know it but it is entirely superfluous," the petition said.
