Bar Council of India mandates criminal background checks for law students

The move by the BCI comes in response to judicial observation regarding the need to monitor antecedents and backgrounds of law students

Hyderabad: The Bar Council of India (BCI) has mandated criminal background checking for all law students. It has now become mandatory for all law students to declare any ongoing FIR, criminal case, conviction or acquittal before the issuance of their final mark sheets and degrees.

The BCI has recently issued a circular to all law universities vice chancellors and registrars, and centres of legal education (CLEs) directing them to hold a thorough criminal background check on each student before issuing the final mark sheets and degrees.

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Asking the law institutions to report all such cases via email at bciinfo21@gmail.com, the BCI said the CLEs must wait for its decision before issuing the final mark sheet and degree to students.

The move by the BCI comes in response to judicial observation regarding the need to monitor antecedents and backgrounds of law students.

Further, students have been prohibited from pursuing more than one regular degree programme simultaneously. Law students have been asked to declare that they are not pursuing any other academic programme while pursuing their LLB degree.

However, short-term, part-time certificate courses in areas such as language or computer application or distance learning programmes can be pursued.

In addition, students have also been asked to declare that they were not engaged in any job or service during the LLB degree unless obtaining a valid No Objection Certificate.

The BCI has also mandated installation of the biometric attendance system and CCTV camera surveillance even in classrooms in all law universities and colleges.

Students must submit an undertaking that confirms compliance with criminal background disclosure, simultaneous degree rules, employment status, and attendance norms.

This declaration must be provided before the issuance of final mark sheets and degrees, the BCI said, adding that students who fail to submit the requisite information will face academic and legal consequences, including the withholding of their mark sheets and degrees.

The law institutions failing to enforce these mandates will face disciplinary actions, including de-recognition or disapproval of affiliation by the BCI, it added.