Bar Council Drops Hammer: 3-Year Ban on New Law Colleges to Stop Fake Degree Factories
The Bar Council of India has announced that it has framed and approved the Rules of
Legal Education, Moratorium (Three-Year Moratorium) with respect to Centers of Legal Education, 2025. The Regulation is in the process of being published and shall remain in force for a continuous period of three years.
During the moratorium period, no new Center of Legal Education will be established or granted approval anywhere in India. Further, no existing Center of Legal Education may introduce any new section, course, or batch without the prior written and express approval of the BCI. All such proposals, if considered at all, will be subjected to strict scrutiny and ongoing compliance reviews. Pending applications that have not received final approval as on the commencement date will not be affected and shall be processed in accordance with law.
The Council has taken this step to arrest the decline in quality across segments of legal education, evidenced by the unchecked mushrooming of sub-standard institutions, routine issuance of NOCs by State Government and affiliations by Universities without proper inspection, and to prevent the commercialization of legal education, widespread academic malpractice, and persistent shortages of qualified faculty.
With around 2000 Centers of Legal Education already operating, the BCI believes the country’s institutional capacity is adequate, the focus must shift to consolidation, quality enhancement, and systemic strengthening in the public interest and in furtherance of constitutional commitments.
