Today, On 9th May, The Supreme Court considered a PIL seeking to replace the 5-year LL.B course with a 4-year one, arguing that the National Education Policy 2020 supports four-year professional undergraduate programmes.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, which asked for the current 5-year LL.B law course to be replaced with a 4-year LL.B course.
The main argument made in the petition was that the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) supports four-year undergraduate degrees even in professional courses.
The PIL also asked the Supreme Court to direct the Centre to set up a Legal Education Commission or an Expert Committee.
The purpose of such a body would be to review and restructure the entire legal education system in India, especially focusing on the syllabus, curriculum, and course duration of both LL.B and LL.M programmes.
A Supreme Court bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta took up the matter but made it very clear that they would not entertain it at this stage.
At the beginning of the hearing, the bench stated clearly,
“We will not hear a senior, Mr. Upadhyay.”
Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the petitioner along with Ashwini Upadhyay, who was present in person.
Explaining why he chose to appear in the matter, Vikas Singh told the Court,
“I only appear when serious issues are involved. In fact, my yoga teacher pushed me to take this up. He struggles to afford legal education for his daughter due to the high fees and the 5-year course duration. This is a real problem.”
He also compared the Indian legal education system with other countries and said that in countries like England, the LL.B degree is completed in just three years.
Vikas Singh further informed the Court that a bench led by Justice Surya Kant is already looking into the issue of the validity of the one-year LL.M programme.
However, Justice Vikram Nath made it very clear that the Supreme Court would not interfere in matters that are clearly meant to be handled by educational authorities and the legal profession’s own regulators.
He said,
“These decisions are within the domain of the Bar Council of India and the Education Ministry. Let’s not encroach into that.”
However, the Court clarified,
“We will tag the matter. We are not issuing notice.”
The tagged case is next listed for July 29.
Case Title: ASHWINI KUMAR UPADHYAY v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS|W.P.(C) No. 453/2025
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