LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has provisionally removed the age limit of 24 years for getting admission to the five-year bachelor of law (LLB) programmes in Punjab.
On Thursday, a full bench of LHC headed by Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah issued the interim order on a petition challenging the age bar.
The judges ruled that if candidates have already done their BA they will be considered in the LLB three-year programme. Anybody over and above the age of 24 years without holding a BA degree is provisionally eligible to apply for the five-year LLB programme.
Death penalty: LHC rejects appeals of seven military court convicts
The court also constituted a commission headed by the Punjab advocate general and including one representative each of Pakistan Bar Council and Punjab Bar Council, commissioner/district coordination officer and district police chief.
The bench directed the commission to hold its first meeting on December 12 at 11 am to verify by carrying out physical inspections whether the affiliated law colleges fully comply with the requirements of affiliation as per law, and verify and prepare a list of tuition centres imparting legal education without affiliation in the Punjab.
The court directed the commission to present its report before next date of hearing on January 17.
The judges were told that Bahauddin Zakariya University has not approved the syllabus for five-year years LLB programme. The varsity counsel submitted they are awaiting approval of the Pakistan Bar Council.
A PBC representative said the syllabus has already been approved in the case of Punjab University. The same syllabus would be followed by all universities of the province, thus the BZU did not need to wait any further.
The judges allowed the BZU to adopt that syllabus.
To commence the five-year LLB programme, law colleges require fresh affiliations and the process is under way. The court directed the respective universities and law colleges to complete the process of affiliation for the purpose of granting admissions in five-year programme within one month.
In case where such affiliation is declined any admissions will not be in accordance with law, the court said. While granting fresh affiliation for the five-year programme, the universities will reconsider the number of seats to be allocated to the respective college as per the affiliation rules and the university calendar.
Plant Protection Dept: LHC sets aside appointment of DG
This order will have bearing on a large number of law students studying in Punjab. The LHC office ha been directed to disseminate this interim order through media and place it on its website so that respective students are apprised of the legal position.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ