NE bar council protest against education bill

NE bar council protest against education bill

byTNN | Jul 12, 2012, 10.15AM IST

GUWAHATI: The bar council of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim started a two-day strike here on Wednesday to oppose the proposed Higher Education and Research (HER) Bill, 2011.

Earlier, the Bar Council of India (BCI) asked all the state councils to abstain from their duties on July 11 and July 12 to stage a protest against the bill, which is believed to abdicate the powers and functions of BCI in promoting the legal education system in the country.

According to the Advocates Act, 1961, BCI is liable to promote legal education and set standards of such education in consultation with universities, recognize universities whose degrees in law shall be qualified for enrollment as an advocate and visit and inspect universities. However, the HER Bill will curb all these activities of the bar councils.

"The BCI is of the view that the bill is an attempt to allow the entry of foreign institutions in the country. Studying law will then become impossible for poor students. The HRD ministry is bent on weakening the lawyers' bodies," said MC Bhuyan, secretary of the bar council of the all eight northeastern states.

The council members claimed that the Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011, the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bills, 2010, the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of entry and operations) Bill, 2010 and National Law School Bills, 2011will only harm the autonomy of the BCI.

The members also slammed the Union human resource development ministry for neglecting legal education and its reluctant approach in promoting and improving the legal education in the country.

"The HER bill seeks to abdicate the powers and functions of the bar councils and will destroy its autonomy from taking disciplinary action against erring advocates. We oppose the bill and demand the HRD ministry not to regulate any such bill in the country," said a member of BCI.

Over hundred lawyers on Wednesday staged a protest dharna in front of Gauhati high court and also torched a copy of the bill in protest.