Two law students have filed a PIL with the Bombay high court seeking the postponement of the first semester examinations that are scheduled to begin from January 29. They are asking for the exams to be deferred on the grounds that admissions concluded just last month.
The petition is raising the question of whether the university can reduce a 90 day semester to just 17 days.
The PIL will be heard by a bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and B P Colabawalla this week after the petitioners’ advocate Kamaljit Singh citied urgency of the matter.
Delayed Admissions Due To HC Directive
The two students, Sainath Pawar, 43, and Sharad Koli, 42 have stated in their plea that they had taken admission to the first year of the 3-year LLB course at G J Advani Law college, Bandra.
The admissions were done by December 22, 2017 the last date for institutional round LLB-3 intake that had been extended on basis of a HC directive in a petition filed last year. As a result, only 17 working days were left in the semester, with two lectures each day, and each lecture being of an hour and forty minutes.
The first year course syllabus contains the subjects of labour law, law of torts, contracts and legal language, all of which are considered “foundational “, and the petitioners claim that a reasonable time is required to study them.
The students further noted that according to University grants commission regulation of 2010 and Bar Council Of India circulars, a semester must last 90 days. The students said they had approached the University regarding an extension but failed to receive a response.
A Semester Must Last For 90 Days
The petition has sought a directive to be made to the university authorities for holding the semester examination only after 90 days from the last date of admission, pointing out that the time currently available “is grossly insufficient” for novice first year law students to understand “the basic nitty-gritty of law.”
The PIL has highlighted that the circular from the University of Mumbai notified that the date of first semester exam was on 29/01/2018 leaving only 17 working days excluding study leave. The college has set the last working day as 15/01/2018. The petitioners have alleged that this shows “no application of mind on the part of the University and others.”
