"Illegal" admission centre: BCI directed to inspect Dr

The Madras High Court today directed Bar Council of India to carry out a surprise inspection on the premises of Dr Ambedkar Law College, Tirupati, which is allegedly illegally operating an admission centre from this city.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivgnanam, before which a PIL filed by a lawyer K Ashok Chakravarthy came up, directed that a notice be served through the court to the college against which charges had been levelled of illegally operating the centre from here.
The petitioner submitted that in view of mushrooming of private law colleges without any control over admissions, law degree has become a saleable commodity and people with lots of money could successfully enroll themselves. This was the root cause for the 'downfall' of the legal profession, he said.

Alleging that law schools are not equipped with adequate staff and infrastructure, he said the school of excellence in law, Chennai, should be directed to fill up all posts of faculty and provide all necessary infrastructure.
Without any increase in staff and infrastructure, it was now functioning at the campus of Dr. Ambedkar Law University here and has admitted 60 students.
He alleged that the day-to-day affairs of the University and the school of excellence are affected due to non-filling of sensitive posts such as Registrar and said no steps were taken to fill up the same.

The petitioner submitted that before introducing new courses and shifting the University to new premises the University should have ensured that all posts are filled up.

Referring to legal education, he alleged that the Dr. Ambedkar Law college at Thirupathy was illegally admitting students from Chennai, that too from a place very near the High Court and prayed that the Court direct BCI to take action on such illegal admissions.
The petitioner sought a direction to Dr. Ambedkar Law University here to fill up all vacant posts on a regular basis, appoint sufficient teachers for new courses and complete the construction of the building at Tharamani before shifting the Law University there.
The bench then issued a notice to Government Pleader S T S Moorthy on behalf of the Secretary, Law Department, and also notices to counsel of the University and Bar Council.