BCI mandates biometric attendance, criminal background checks for law students

The Bar Council of India (BCI), the nation's apex regulator for legal education, mandated immediate implementation of biometric attendance and criminal background checks for students in law education institutes on Tuesday. 

In a letter to all vice-chancellors, deans, faculty, and law students, the regulator asked centres of legal education (CLEs) to verify whether students work while studying and install CCTV cameras on the premises.

The BCI said, in a statement, that it issued the notification in response to judicial observations about the need to monitor law students' antecedents and backgrounds and ensure transparency and accountability in attendance and student conduct.

“All CLEs are required to install biometric attendance systems to ensure accurate student attendance monitoring. Furthermore, CCTV cameras must be installed in classrooms and other key areas of the institution. The recordings from these cameras must be preserved for a period of one year to support any necessary verification or investigation related to attendance and student conduct,” the BCI said in its notification.

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"All law students are now required to declare any ongoing FIR, criminal case, conviction or acquittal before the issuance of their final mark sheets and degrees. Failure to disclose such information will result in strict disciplinary action, including withholding the final mark sheet and degree," the regulator added.

The BCI notification also said: “Law students must declare that they have not pursued any other regular academic programme while pursuing their LL.B. degree, except for short-term, part-time certificate courses in areas such as language or computer applications, or programmes offered through distance learning, as allowed under the rules...Students must declare that they were not engaged in any job, service or vocation during the course of their LL.B. degree unless they had obtained a valid no objection certificate.”

The BCI added that CLEs must alert the regulator when they find any student with an unsatisfactory attendance record or a criminal background or if any student is in violation of the mandate of this notification. The student's final mark sheet will be withheld until the BCI issues a decision on the matter. 

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The BCI also said CLEs will be penalised if they fail to follow the directions issued in this notification.

Earlier this year, the BCI prohibited 11 law education institutes from admitting new students as they did not meet the regulator's standards for legal education.

RGNUL controversy 

The BCI's steps towards added vigilance come against the backdrop of students at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) in Patiala protesting the actions of the institute's vice-chancellor. According to media reports, the RGNUL vice-chancellor allegedly entered the women's hostel and made remarks about students' attires.

RGNUL was shut until further orders on 23 September after students protested to demand the vice-chancellor's resignation. 

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The institute's authorities set up a nine-member committee to examine the grievances and invited students for an "amicable discussion", but they shut the college after no student turned up for the meeting, according to a report by The Indian Express. 

The vice-chancellor has denied the allegations and claimed he entered the women's hostel to inspect and “identify students who smoke and drink alcohol after midnight” as he had received several complaints.