Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Revamp of legal education system mooted

— Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

NEW COURSE: N.R. Madhava Menon, chairman of the expert committee on reforming legal education system in Kerala, submits the panel report to Education Minister M.A. Baby in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An expert committee on reforming the legal education system in Kerala has recommended a total revamp of the system in its report submitted to Education Minister M.A. Baby on Saturday.

The committee, headed by N.R. Madhava Menon, legal educationist, suggested that the 10 law colleges in the State, excluding the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, be brought under a statutory Legal Education Board and eventually developed into independent universities. They should have complete functional autonomy regarding curriculum, admission, fees, staff selection, discipline, examination, administration and finances. The Board should be the single regulatory body for professional legal education in the State while the regular universities would be free to offer courses such as Bachelor of Arts in Law. For the present, postgraduate courses and research could continue under the existing university departments.

The committee proposed that each law college should prepare a vision statement and action plan and broaden its programmes to justify university status. There should not be any bar on law universities offering non-law courses.

Noting that the State’s legal educational system lagged behind many other progressive States in terms of curriculum, teaching methods, examination system and educational management, the committee recommended yearly revision of curriculum at the institutional level.

It said the work culture and academic environment should change. Law students should study 12 hours daily for at least 300 days a year. They could not afford to indulge in political party activities. Law colleges should have semester system with each semester having 125 teaching days. During vacations, students should be on placement in law offices. Teachers would have to work more. All examinations should be internal only, which means teachers setting the curriculum and teaching the subject should conduct the examinations also. There should be transparency and objectivity in evaluation with provision for appeal. There should also be a system of evaluation of teachers by students every year.

It said postgraduate legal education, which was intended to produce researchers and teachers, was in a very unsatisfactory state. It recommended three types of LLM courses — one to produce law teachers, another to produce good researchers and draftsmen and a third to enable students to specialise in different branches of law. Admissions should be through rigorous screening and students should be asked to reside on the campus.

The committee also recommended that one or two advanced centres for legal research should be set up in the State with clear mandate for socially relevant research in law and governance. “Regular universities may offer diplomas and certificate courses in different branches of law for non-lawyers.

At the Plus Two level, a basic course on Law may be introduced.” It noted that para-legal education has huge employment potential in the corporate sector as well as in government, particularly in local self-governments. It would help develop “barefoot lawyers” to service the unmet legal needs of the rural people.

The members of the committee were Alice Jacob, former Director of Indian Law Institute, C.S. Vaidyanathan, senior advocate, Supreme Court, N.K. Jayakumar, Vice-Chancellor, NUALS, K. Vikraman Nair, M.G. University, Kottayam, N.S. Gopalakrishnan, School of Legal Studies, Kochi, Kalpana Kannabiran, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, S. Sivakumar, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi and Kuruvilla John, Principal Secretary (Higher Education).

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