MADURAI: Answering a long-pending demand of advocates and law aspirants from south Tamil Nadu, the state government has announced in its budget that a specialised government law college on par with the School of Excellence in Law (SOEL) would be established in Madurai.
According to the budget, the above college is to be established in the coming academic year, 2027-28, with an intake of 300 students. SOEL, which was established in Chennai in 2002, is considered to be comparable to other national law schools in India, with eleven specialised departments.
It offers undergraduate (Hons.) courses, post-graduate courses and research degrees. However, due to the distance factor, students and aspirants from the southern districts were reluctant to enroll in the institution, as they would have to spend a considerable amount of money towards travel expenses, an advocate S Muthukumar from Madurai told TNIE.
He had filed a PIL before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in this regard in 2024, to which the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University had responded saying that a proposal has been sent to the government to establish SOEL in Madurai and allot suitable land for the same near the HC bench campus. A similar PIL had been filed by one K Pushpavanam in 2021 seeking upgradation of all government law colleges in line with SOEL.
“Thus, our long-pending demand has been answered by the government. This would help students from the southern belt,” Muthukumar said.
President of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association (MMBA) S Arul Vadivel, alias Sekar, said, “Unlike other regular law colleges, SOEL has 13 distinct specialisation branches and offers four undergraduate honours courses. Since the budget does not say ‘SOEL’ per se and only a college that is ‘on par with’ SOEL, it’s unsure whether all aspects of SOEL can be expected in the new college,” he said.