BCI scraps one-year LL.M; New admission test to be introduced.
Three/five years compulsory for admission to LL.M.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has decided to scrap the one-year LL.M course which was introduced in India in 2013. The key highlights of the newly notified BCI Legal Education (Post Graduate, Doctoral, Executive, Vocational, Clinical and other Continuing Education) Rules, 2020 are:
1. The Rules will come into force from the date notified by the BCI.
2. LL.M has to be of two years containing over four semesters.
3. Three-year or five-year LL.B will be compulsory for admission to LL.M course.
4. One-year LL.M introduced in India in 2013(as per notification) by the University Grants Commission shall remain operative and valid until the Academic Session in which these Regulations are notified and implemented but not thereafter at any University throughout the country.
5. A Master's degree in any specialized branch of Law offered in the Open System to any graduate, such as Criminology, Human Right, International Trade Law etc. without having graduation in law (LL.B./BA.LLB) shall not be designated as LL.M.
6. However,it can be designated in any other manner attracting the immediate attention of anyone but not be a Law graduate.
7. LL.M will be through the Post Graduate Common Entrance Test in Law (PGCETL) which is conducted by the BCI.
8. LL.M obtained from a foreign university, shall be equivalent in India only if it is taken after obtaining the LL.B. degree from any foreign or Indian University which is equivalent to the recognized LL.B. degree in India.
