The Himachal Pradesh High Court has refused to allow enrolment of a man as an advocate after it was found that he had taken admission to a three-year LL.B course before completing his graduation — a direct violation of legal education norms.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Ranjan Sharma dismissed the appeal filed by Inderpal Singh, upholding the decision of a single judge who had earlier rejected Singh’s plea challenging the Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh’s refusal to enrol him.
The Court observed that Singh had not yet cleared his final undergraduate paper at the time he was granted admission to the LL.B course in June 2014. He later cleared the paper on July 27, 2015 and completed his law degree in November 2017. However, the Bench maintained that the initial admission itself was invalid.
Referring to the Advocates Act and the Bar Council of India Rules of Legal Education, 2008, the Court held that admission to a three-year LL.B programme is permissible only after successful completion of a bachelor’s degree.
“Thus, once for want of Graduation, the admission of the appellant-writ petitioner to LLB Course was bad (being ineligible) therefore, neither any locus nor any right can be said to have accrued to the appellant, an ineligible incumbent, so as to seek enrolment as an advocate, dehors the Rules,” the Court ruled.
The Court further underlined that allowing such admissions would undermine the regulatory standards of legal education:
“The prescribed standards cannot be permitted to be eased out or diluted, just to enable the appellant-writ petitioner to seek ratification or to undo his known and admitted wrongs or inactions.”
It emphasized that permitting candidates or institutes to bypass eligibility norms would amount to “an illegality”, rejecting the undertaking given by Singh to his law college as insufficient to regularize an otherwise invalid admission.
Senior Advocate Ajay Sharma and advocate Atharv Sharma appeared for Inderpal Singh. The Bar Council of Himachal Pradesh was represented by Senior Advocate Sunil Mohan Goel and advocate Raman Jamalta. Advocate Nitin Thakur appeared for Himachal Pradesh University, while Advocate Arsh Chauhan represented the law college.
Case: Inderpal Singh vs Himachal Pradesh University & Ors – Available on LAWFYI.IO
