The Bar Council of India has accepted the recommendations of its panel, which stated that LL.B examinations should be allowed to be conducted by institutions while keeping the availability of resources and the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in particular area in mind.
The panel, chaired by Justice Govind Mathur, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, has recommended that each university and centre of legal education conduct examinations for intermediate and final year law students at their own discretion, depending on the availability of resources and the impact of COVID 19 in that region, according to a BCI press release on Thursday.
While maintaining that an end-of-term examination was required of all law schools, the committee also stated that "universities/centers of legal education are free to determine the mode of examination online/offline/blended/online open book exam/assignment based evaluation/research papers)."
In light of the unprecedented situation created by the pandemic, the BCI, as the country's regulator of legal education, formed a High Level Committee of Experts to deliberate on the issue of mode of intermediate semester examination, evaluation, and promotion of intermediate LL.B students.
The committee was also asked to consider evaluating the mode of examination prior to awarding degrees to final-year law students.
According to the apex bar body, the committee also recommended that universities and legal education centres ensure that a sufficient time gap exists between regular and backlog examinations to avoid inconvenience to students.
The committee "unanimously agreed that the University/Centers of Legal Education are free to determine the mode of evaluation/examination for promotion, award of the Law Degree, and examination conduct."
"The Council has considered and deliberated over the report submitted on June 8, and this council resolves to accept the Committee's report in its entirety," BCI Secretary Srimanto Sen said in a press release.
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