The Bar Council of India (BCI) has launched a sweeping crackdown on leading legal institutions across the country for offering LL.M. degrees through online, hybrid, and distance learning modes without mandatory approval. In a decisive move, the BCI announced it is issuing show cause notices to premier institutions including the National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur; OP Jindal Global University (JGU), Sonipat; and National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi).
These institutions have come under scrutiny for what the BCI describes as “unauthorised and misleading” academic practices. “These institutions frequently insert vague statements indicating that the course is not equivalent to the BCI-recognized LLM, while simultaneously and prominently using the nomenclature ‘LL.M.’ in their brochures, advertisements, and academic materials,” the BCI noted in its official communication.
Justice (Retd.) Rajendra Menon, Co-chairman of the BCI’s Legal Education Committee, issued a directive clearly prohibiting the offering of LL.M. degrees without prior approval from the Bar Council. The directive, sent to Registrars General of all High Courts, emphasized that “LL.M. degrees earned via online, distance or hybrid modes without BCI’s prior approval will be treated as invalid for employment, judicial services, academic posts, and promotions.”
The BCI has further expressed concern that allowing such courses undermines the legal and academic value of genuine LL.M. degrees. According to the Legal Education Rules, 2008 and 2020, the LL.M. is a statutory qualification that requires rigorous academic engagement. The Council argues that virtual or distance-learning formats fail to deliver core competencies such as legal reasoning, faculty-student engagement, and courtroom-style discourse.
Raising a red flag on “professional” or “executive” law courses offered to non-law graduates, the BCI said these programs dangerously blur the line between short-term diplomas and legitimate postgraduate legal education.
To prevent further erosion of educational standards, the BCI is preparing to issue a national advisory warning students, institutions, and government bodies to disregard online LL.M. degrees obtained without approval as valid qualifications.
