Judge Should Have Done Proper Homework Before Making 'Weird' Comments: BCI On Justice Muhamed Mustaque's Remarks

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has used strong words in its press release condemning the remarks of Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque that members of the BCI are "dictating" syllabus for law colleges and that they have an idea of what is happening beyond litigation. 

While condemning, what it termed "bizarre" and "irresponsible" comments by the Judge of the Kerala High Court while speaking at a private function, the BCI has stated that “Justice Mustaque should have done a proper homework before choosing to make such a weird comment.” The BCI has also stated that it has become fashionable to criticize in order to create a "flutter in media".

The BCI has also said that people suffering from an inferiority complex and who have a feeling in their minds that only a few foreign Universities are good, make such irresponsible comments.

The press release issued on Sunday has enumerated the historical and reformative steps taken by the Bar Council of India to maintain and improve the standard of legal education in India, which it claimed to be second to none. In fact, the products of several Indian Law Universities are much in demand in law schools of several developed countries. Such demand was the reason why the Bar Council has come out with regulations pertaining to the entry of foreign lawyers in a restricted manner on a reciprocal basis. Several countries not presently part of the said regulations have expressed their desire to enter into MoUs with the Bar Council of India, as per the press release.

The BCI highlighted that the elected representatives of the Bar Councils have constituted a high-level committee to deal with matters relating to Legal education. The Bar Council of India has a separate body for matters relating to Legal education. The High Level Committee decides the policies and norms of Legal education. The Committee is headed by a former Judge of the Supreme Court and it has two sitting Chief Justices of High Courts as its Co-Chairs. In addition, there are two former Chief Justices of High Courts and level renowned academicians, including Vice Chancellors of National Law Universities, Deans of Central Universities and other Government and Private Law Universities as its members along with noted Senior Advocates of the Country. There are only five elected Members of the Bar Council in its Legal Education Committee.

The Bar Council has stated that they conduct inspections of Centres of Legal Education. The teams that conduct such inspection are headed by former Judge of some High Court and also consists of Senior University Professors and teachers as its members, with only one or two Members of the Bar Council of India or State Bar Councils. These teams make recommendations for approval or disapproval of Centres of Legal Education to the Legal Education Committee before its final decision. Thus, the decisions are taken largely by the Judges and Law Teachers, the BCI has said.

The Bar Council of India also pointed to the several "so-called top Universities of the world" and the malpractices adopted by many of them. Within India, the Bar Council acknowledged the existence of a dearth of good Law Teachers, as the standard of Higher Legal education imparted by the Universities through LLM and PhD Degrees are not up to the Mark. The Bar Councils do not deal with Higher Legal education.

It was also pointed out that the Bar Council has constituted Advisory Boards for the Development of Legal Education and the Legal Profession consisting of the Chief Justice of India, several Judges of the Supreme Court as well as many Senior Advocates and Law Teachers.

The Bar Council of India has appealed to Justice Muhammed Mustaque to give his valuable suggestions and inputs to the Bar Council instead of criticizing.

Click here to read/download press release