The University of Mumbai Law Academy (UMLA), located at Mumbai University’s Kalina campus, has been operating without approval from the Bar Council of India (BCI) from 2015, when it was established, till 2018. The university has recently paid Rs 8 lakh to the BCI for the violations, said MU Pro Vice-Chancellor Ravindra Kulkarni.
The matter came to light after advocate Siddharth Ingle — the president of Maharashtra Students Union — in reply to his RTI query, was told that UMLA’s recognition was pending. “Why hasn’t the university done anything to get approval for four years? It could have put at stake the degrees of several students,” he said.
According to report accessed by the Indian Express, “It is found that the University of Mumbai Law Academy has admitted students since 2015-16 for five-year BBA LLB (Hons.) without getting approval from the Bar Council of India, which is contrary to rule 14(1) of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008.”
The report further stated that no faculty member is available to teach subjects like accounts on a regular basis, besides an honorary member of the university.
At present, UMLA has as many as 200 students, and the first batch of the five-year LLB course will graduate at the end of the academic year.
An inspection committee of the BCI had visited UMLA and imposed a default fee while also giving it conditional approval to operate for the 2019-2020 academic year, a report submitted to the Council last year has stated.
It also imposed specific conditions on UMLA, including upgrading the moot court, purchasing books worth Rs 5 lakh, installation of computers and establishing of a legal aid centre.
When contacted, the in-charge director of UMLA, Swati Routela, expressed inability to comment citing that she was appointed to the position very recently.
“The university has paid the default fee to the BCI and expects requisite approvals soon,” said the MU Pro V-C.