Exams for Law Courses Stayed

KOCHI:The High Court has stayed the conduct of examinations for integrated semester courses, including BBA-LLB and BCom-LLB at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).

Justice V Chitambaresh made it clear that  the order would not disable the university from considering and rescheduling the examinations, following the Bar Council of India prescriptions.

The court issued the order on a petition filed by Leo Lukose and others, seeking a directive to the CUSAT to consider their request to postpone the examinations. Counsel for the petitioners Advocate P G Jayasankar submitted that the university had failed to follow the guidelines issued by the BCI while issuing notification for the exam.

The petitioners, students of 5-year BBA-LLB course, are currently in semester-IX.

As per Rules, universities offering integrated double degrees in law with honours are required to offer classes for 18 weeks, with a minimum of 36 hours per week. Furthermore, for each paper/subject, there shall be a minimum of five class hours per week. Though it is stipulated that there should be 648 class hours or 540 lecture hours, the actual lecture hours were much lesser than that.

“It was reported that classes could not be conducted as the hostel was closed for renovation for quite some time. Besides, some days were lost due to arts festivals and strikes,” the petition stated.

The High Court pointed out that there has to be 36 class hours per week, including seminars, moot court and tutorial classes, and 30 minimum lecture hours per week for honours law courses.