Circular/ Advisory to be considerate on the point of fees.

The Bar Council of India is flooded with requests of students from various Centers of Legal Education throughout the country with one basic and consistent plea that Centers of Legal Education should accept fee in easy installments. There have been requests made to also to waive off certain components of the fee, like utilization of infrastructure fee, library, other facilities etc on the ground that no such utilization is being done as physical classes are not being held, in Centers of Legal Education.

Students and even parents alike have pleaded that during the times of pandemic when many people have been laid off from their jobs, many have got reduced salaries, businesses have turned into loss making ventures, reasonable concessions should be offered to them to enable them to tide over such difficulties.

In the light of the extreme crisis situation that has arisen due to the pandemic situation, we would request all Centers of Legal Education to be considerate and compassionate to the hardhships being faced by students.

All Centers of Legal Education are advised to frame flexible alternative scheme/s which gives ample scope to students to pay their annual/semester fee, in easy instalments instead of in one lumpsum.

Centers of Legal Education are also advised to also consider the savings on electricity and maintenance of infrastructure which they would have had to bear during physical classes, which is being saved now and consider proportionally adjusting the same with the fee being charged.

All Centers of Legal Education are advised to also to consider individual requests from students, if any, concerning payment of fee, in a sympathetic manner, keeping in view the present Covid-19 pandemic situation.

Students have cited increased costs of data packs, a good desktop computer, lap top being necessary now for online mode of education and have stated while the income of their parents have been reduced, their educational expenditure is suddenly showing an upward trend due to such incidental costs.

Students have stated that cut off dates have been fixed to pay fee and failure to pay fee will de bar them from accessing online classes which will result in gross mental agony, apart from loss of opportunity to have access to legal education.

These are special circumstances, an emergency has arisen, it is a world wide pandemic, students would not have pleaded like this under normal circumstances.

Being the regulator of legal education endowed with the task of promoting legal education and lay down standards of education, this Advisory, is being issued to all Centers of Legal Education to be considerate and compassionate to the plea of students and frame alternative and optional schemes for payment of fee through instalments after considering all the factors enumerated above and permit applicants to pay fee in equal monthly installments or over a period of time and also consider individual cases of hardships sympathetically and lend a helping hand to the troubled students without imposing any penalty or without debarring them from access to online classes.

Therefore, Centers of Legal Education, including Universities and Colleges are advised to be considerate to the prevalent extraordinary situation in hand and help the students to the extent they can do;

Thanks,

Manan Kumar Mishra
Chairman
Bar Council of India

Click here for Letter of Chairman