BCI told to decide on law course attendance

BCI told to decide on law course attendance

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  17.10.2024 

New Delhi : Delhi High Court has asked Bar Council of India (BCI) to have its legal education committee finalise a stance on the requirement of attendance in law courses. A bench of justices Pratibha M Singh and Amit Sharma was dealing with a case stemming from the death of a law student, Sushant Rohilla, who died by suicide in 2016 after allegedly being barred from writing his semester exam due to a shortage of attendance. The court earlier questioned the mandatory attendance norms, asking BCI to file an affidavit. Rohilla was a third-year law student at Amity Law School and left behind a note which allegedly stated that he was a failure and did not wish to live. While the matter was initiated by Supreme Court in Sept 2016 following the incident, the case was subsequent ly transferred to the High Court in March 2017.

In an order passed recently, the bench directed BCI's legal education committee to hold a meeting and file its affidavit within two weeks. Listing the matter for hearing on Nov 6, the court granted further time to Amity Law School to present its stance on granting ex-gratia compensation to the family of the deceased. During the hearing, the counsel for Amity Law School said the institution was not at fault, adding that the parents of the deceased student were duly notified about the shortage of attendance. However, the High Court reiterated its query about whether the institute is willing to compensate the family. The court previously expressed an imminent need to re-evaluate the mandatory attendance norms in colleges and universities, as teaching methods changed substantially post Covid-19.