Law colleges may not impose the new age bar rule

mumbai: law colleges affiliated to the mumbai university are likely to continue with their earlier system of admissions for the forthcoming academic year (2009-10) and may not impose the new age bar rule sought to be introduced by the bar council of india (bci). even as nearly 15,000 students appeared for the common law admission test (clat) on sunday for admission to undergraduate courses at the 11 national law schools in india, those hoping to get through a city college may expect some good news. the bci, the apex governing body for lawyers and law education in india, last year introduced a new rule to restrict the age of aspirants to llb courses. it said for the integrated five-year law degree, the age restriction would be 20 years and for three-year llb degree course, which students can join after graduating from any stream, the maximum age for admission would be 30 years. in mumbai, with admissions likely to start by the third week of june, law colleges are gearing up with admission procedures. in many institutes, however, aspirants above 30 years of age have been taking admission to the three-year degree course. even principals seem to be against the age bar and so are lawyers. a mumbai university source said in the new academic year, students above 20 and 30 years of age would be allowed to take admission to the threeand five-year degree courses. n m rajadhyaksha, dean of the law department in the mumbai university,'for the age bar to be imposed, a resolution has to be passed specifying it. but so far, there has been no movement to pass such a resolution.'   advocate rui rodrigues, the university counsel, also added that before any rule with academic implications is adopted, it has to be first sanctioned by the academic council, followed by an endorsement by the management council.   challenging the bci’s new age restriction rules on the grounds of being unconstitutional and discriminatory, two petitions were filed in the bombay high court, one by a city-based lawyer yasmin tavadia and another by constable shabnam mulani (39), who wanted to take admissions but was ruled ineligible. not staying the rule, the bombay hc will continue hear the matter in june after the summer vacation. however, the andhra pradesh high court has stayed the application of the age bar in response to a petition filed in hyderabad.