Autonomous Law Schools in India

National Law Universities (NLU) are public law schools in India, founded pursuant to the second-generation reforms for legal education sought to be implemented by the Bar Council of India. The first NLU was the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), located at Bangalore, which admitted its first batch in 1988. Since then, most of the states in India have established a NLU. Currently there are 25 NLUs across the country. Since their inception, these law schools have continuously been ranked as India's most prestigious and premier law schools by various agencies.The admissions to these universities is conducted through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and is extremely competitive, with an acceptance rate of as low as 2 to 3 percent.

History

Traditionally legal education in India was conducted through the medium of non-specitoalized universities of India which granted law degrees like any other graduate degree. These universities referred and taught the curriculum prescribed by the Bar Council of India, but since they were under the overall control and supervision of the University Grants Commission, therefore it was not possible for the Bar Council to effectively pursue reforms in legal education.

This system continued for more than two decades with the overall legal education supervision by the Bar Council, since its establishment in terms of the Advocates Act, 1961. However, there were calls for reforms from all quarters of the country in general because of the falling standards of the bar and there were mounting pressures over the Bar Council of India to change the way legal education was imparted in India.

The first concrete decision to this end was taken in 1984 when various proposals to modernize legal education were considered and approved by the Legal Education Committee of the Bar Council, in an attempt to improve legal education throughout India. One major proposal was the decision to establish specialized institutions to impart legal education in an integrated and diversified manner. The aim was to revitalize the legal profession by making law an attractive profession and making it competitive to attract talent, which was hitherto diverted to other professional areas such as medicine and engineering.

Structure

In contrast with the existing pattern of legal education in India, the proposed autonomous law schools varied in structural design and in various other respects. Some of these can be identified through the characteristics they carry:

* Autonomous status of the law schools: This implied that the law schools carried either a 'deemed university' or a 'university' status, which empowered them to grant their own degree and which was recognized by other institutions in terms of the University Grants Commission regulations.
* Five year law programme: Earlier law degrees were granted only to those candidates who had already completed their graduation and after three years of formal legal education. However, the admission to these autonomous law schools were only to those candidates who had completed Grade 12.
* Integrated degrees: In these autonomous law schools, students studied for a law degree in integration with another degree of their choice. This allowed prospective advocates to have understanding of areas other than law. It also compensated for the lack of three years of formal education of other subjects that candidates in traditional three year law degree programme carried. Initially the choice of second degree was confined to B.A. (Bachelor of Arts). Later, other choices were also offered like B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science), B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration) and B.Com. (Bachelor of Commerce).
* Intensive legal education: These law schools were given autonomy to devise the imparting of the curriculum in a manner which would best suit the candidate's ability to understand legal concepts and ability to appreciate various issues involved in legal setting and instill in them the merit and reasoning standards required for a high professional conducts. A standout feature of these institutions is that they are single subject universities where the main thrust of education is on law with other complementary social sciences.
* National status of law schools: These Schools are recognized by the university grants commission as "state universities" and are affiliated to the Bar Council of India. Each of these law schools were to be established under a specific legislation, to be passed by the State legislature of the State desirous of establishing a law school. In terms of these legislation, these law schools were required to establish and practice excellent and high standards, at par with other national level institutions imparting education in other wakes of social life. The conferment of national status also make admittance to these law schools at a prestigious choice and thus inviting meritorious students to get inclined to join legal profession.
* Involvement of legal luminaries: To improve standards of legal education and ensure education imparted in these institutions met desired standards, the Bar Council of India involved various prestigious and talented individuals with these law schools. The most notable of these was the involvement of highly placed constitutional functionaries, such as the Chief Justice of India or the Chief Justice of various High Courts as the "Visitors" and often "Chancellors" of these law schools, which implied a constant involvement and supervision of elite figures of legal profession in India with these law schools.

List of national law universities

# National Law School of India University, Bangalore
# National Law Institute University, Bhopal
# NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
# The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
# National Law University, Jodhpur, Jodhpur
# Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
# Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
# Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, Lucknow
# Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
# Chanakya National Law University, Patna
# National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi
# National Law University Odisha, Cuttack
# National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
# National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam, Guwahati
# Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Vishakhapatnam
# Tamil Nadu National Law University, Trichy
# Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai
# Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
# Maharashtra National Law University, Aurangabad
# Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla
# Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur
# Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat
# National law University, Sikkim
# National Law University, Tripura
# Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University, Prayagraj

Admissions

Admission to all LLB and LLM in the National Law Schools in India is based on performance on Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) except admission to National Law University Delhi, which is done by AILET (All India Law Entrance Test).

Proposed National Law Universities

Government in Jammu and Kashmir plans to set up Jammu and Kashmir National Law University in 2019 to set up the state's National law university, The Jammu & Kashmir National Law University (JKNLU) in the capital city

Srinagar, India. The state of Uttarakhand is establishing its National law University after passing the NLU of Uttarakhand Act by the state legislature in 2011 at Ranipokhari, 30 km from Dehradun. The Government of India gave its permission to the state to establish the NLU in Uttarakhand after eight years in 2019. The state of Uttar Pradesh is planning to establish its second National Law University by the name of Uttar Pradesh National Law University in Prayagraj (Allahabad). The state has earmarked 25 acres of land in Jhalwa, Prayagraj. Prayagrag being the home of Allahabad High Court's principal bench has long been earmarked for the development of an NLU in the city. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is proposed to be the Chancellor of this university. The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Goa are the only states which do not currently have a NLU or any existing plans to establish one.

A bill in the Lok Sabha called The National Law Universities of India Bill, 2016 is under consideration for providing the NLUs the status of Institute of National Importance in India.

See also

* Legal education in India
* Army Institute of Law
* List of law schools in India

References

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Legal education in India