Supreme Court Judges show concern, say urgent reforms needed in Legal Education

Supreme Court Judges show concern, say urgent reforms needed in Legal Education

Two Judges of the Supreme Court of India (SC) said that there is an urgent need for reforming legal education in India as its quality is being affected due to the 'mushrooming' of law colleges

Justice S K Kaul said that "I do believe we are churning out too many lawyers without any analysis of the number of lawyers required." He further stated that the quality of legal education in India has suffered a lot due to a large number of 'not so great law colleges'. He emphasized that the 'crying need of the hour' is to see how legal education can be improved.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also raised similar concerns and issues. Referring to the concerns raised by Justice Kaul and Senior Advocate Singhvi, Justice N V Ramanna stated, "I welcome this thought-provoking discussion and I agree with what they have expressed. It (legal education) requires urgent and immediate reform."

Justice Ramana added, "I hope something can be done and we can take up this issue in the coming days."

SC Judges were concerned about the legal education in India during an event for the release of the book 'The Law of Emergency Powers' that is authored by Mr Singhvi and Prof Khagesh Gautam, teaching law at Jindal Global Law School. The book concentrates on a legal and constitutional study of emergency powers in India.

Senior Advocate emphasized on 'glaring absence of genuine legal research in large parts of India' he said so while he was speaking at an event, which was conducted virtually. He further added, "Part of this is due to the many factories of legal education we produce with hardly any quality control." He showed concern and said that the negative impact of the stratification of law colleges must be urgently addressed.

He stated, "Central universities set up by Parliament operate their law faculty as law schools, while state universities act mostly as affiliating universities which are affiliating colleges set up by private trusts and societies."

It was further mentioned by the Senior Advocate that the major problem that has been faced by the legal education in India, particularly regarding good legal research, is the affiliated law college system.

He stated, "Many Institutes do not have adequate or qualified faculty or libraries or e-resources and they omit regular classes and examinations." He also demanded that substandard and mediocre law colleges ought to be closed down.