Milad un Nabi, also known as Eid-e-Milad, will be observed in India on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. The festival marks the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad and is listed as a holiday by several government departments and institutions. However, whether schools, and colleges
What if the air around us could become a source of fresh drinking water? An Illinois high-school student is exploring that possibility through a novel material designed to capture moisture from the atmosphere and release it using sunlight. Zainab Nathani, a student from Illinois
The number of Indian students applying to US colleges fell 15% in the 2025-26 academic year compared with the previous year, as tighter immigration policies and uncertainty over visa rules weigh on demand from international students. The decline was recorded in a report by Common App
The story so far: Admissions to undergraduate courses in the University of Delhi have, for the second year in a row, entered a mop-up round, in which some colleges were permitted to admit students based on their Class 12 Board exam results instead of their Common University Entrance Test (CUET)
Maharashtra has released a draft law — the Maharashtra Private Coaching Centres (Registration and Regulation) Bill, 2026 — intending to rein in coaching centres in the State, which drew attention during the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak. The draft bill released on August 22 focuses on the prevention
Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi held a meeting with senior officials of the Department of School Education and Literacy to review key issues related to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), with discussions centred on strengthening its academic
Delhi University has completed three regular rounds of undergraduate admissions, but 13,433 UG seats are still vacant. According to the university’s latest spot-round vacancy list, the unfilled seats are spread across 1,160 college-course combinations
“We have a history of renowned political leaders; we hail from the lands of intellect. This university has nurtured multiple leaders, including Gulzarilal Nanda, Madan Lal Khurana, Mahadevi Varma, and many Chief Justices,” 23-year-old Priyanshu Vidrohi said
The NALSAR standoff and the BCI’s crisis of authority
The NALSAR standoff and the BCI’s crisis of authority
A university convocation is traditionally a rite of passage—a solemn initiation where the next generation of legal minds are welcomed into the fold of justice. However, this month, the halls of NALSAR University of Law became the site of a regulatory tantrum that threatened to undermine the very foundations of the legal profession. What began as a principled student protest against the presence of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant escalated into an unprecedented jurisdictional coup when the Bar Council of India (BCI) attempted to hold the professional futures of an entire graduating batch hostage. Has our primary regulator evolved from a custodian of standards into a moral police force?
The friction began not with youthful petulance, but with a deep-seated disagreement over judicial rhetoric. A significant section of NALSAR graduates—recently joined by their peers at the NLSIU Bengaluru—opposed inviting the CJI due to his widely criticised “cockroach” remarks regarding fake degree holders and student protesters, which sparked widespread youth backlash and his perceived indifference toward the police crackdown on Jantar Mantar protesters. For these students, the protest was an exercise in the institutional values of dissent and accountability they had been taught to revere.
The BCI’s response was a masterclass in regulatory adventurism. Within six hours on the night of August 13, the Council moved from a total ban on enrolment to a complete retreat. After the CJI observed that the BCI had no business interfering, and after online backlash from a vexed public, Mr. Mishra announced the closure of all proceedings. A sharp rebuke from the SC, internal dissent, and public outcry triggered the collapse.
Law students and lawyers continue to question the legal basis for the notices. The standoff exposed a glaring lack of understanding of jurisdictional boundaries. As a creature of statute, the BCI’s powers are strictly confined to the Advocates Act, 1961. The landmark 1995 Supreme Court judgment of CJI Ahmadi in the case of Indian Council of Legal Aid & Advice v. Bar Council of India (1995) established that the BCI’s rule-making power cannot be expansively used to regulate individuals at the pre-enrolment stage. BCI cannot unilaterally block enrolment without specific statutory cause. More importantly, he cautioned against treating a general rule making power as an independent source of substantive authority. The court examined section 49 of the Advocates Act and held that the BCI’s power to prescribe the “class or category” of persons entitled to enrolment did not authorise it to create an additional category of persons who could be excluded from the profession. This reasoning offers an important vantage point through which a relevant question emerges- if the particular action taken against the students can be traced to a power conferred upon the Council by the Advocates Act?
The BCI justified its initial ban by arguing that students with “no regard for the highest Judicial Office” would be a “liability” to the profession. This is a dangerous subjectivity. While the BCI viewed the protest as “nasty politics,” it forgot that the judiciary is not a fragile institution. As Justice Sanjiv Khanna once noted, “Courts are not as fragile as flowers to wither and wilt.” The CJI himself eventually clarified the constitutional position, asserting that students have a right to protest even if they are wrong. When a regulator uses “public confidence” to silence peaceful dissent, it stops protecting the profession and starts policing thought. After such a imposition of values, one is forced to ask, whether a peaceful participation in a student campaign can lawfully be treated as a valid ground to obstruct enrolment when such conduct is not among the statutory disqualifications under section 24A, and if the BCI followed the procedure required to exercise the power it possesses or if this was a case of the sentiments of one official finding voice though an instrument of a statute?
The public lambasted the regulatory body for allowing its highest office holder, an elected Member of Parliament affiliated to the ruling party, to serve for an extended period. This blurring of roles between a political actor and a statutory regulator invites suspicion of partisan witch-hunts. The BCI’s demand to “separately identify” faculty members directly assaulted the university’s safe spaces. Law schools must be permitted to nurture contrarian thought. If faculty members are targeted for allowing students to exercise their conscience, academic freedom becomes a casualty of regulatory overreach.
The NLSIU student community stepped in and framed this dissent not as “dirty politics,” but as a requirement of the legal conscience. They wrote in their coherent letter, relying on the words ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’ to reiterate that the ethos of all law universities reflects this sentiment, and that the administration must be encouraged to act according to their conscience without fear.
The NALSAR standoff escalated with a formal Supreme Court notice recording the withdrawal of the circulars, ensuring that no future punitive action can be taken against the graduates and ended with the BCI issuing an apology to the students, however not explicitly framing it as an unconditional one. This might be a victory for the students but is a sobering warning for the Bar. If our law schools are meant to produce lawyers who can speak truth to power, can we afford a regulator that punishes them the moment they do?
(Written by Ashish Bharadwaj (Pro Vice Chancellor, WPU Goa) and Batul Shafiq (student, BITS Law School). Views are strictly personal and not official)
Published - August 19, 2026 08:30 am IST
Source: TheHindu
Related Posts: Education
In Bihar’s Gaya district lies Patwa Toli, a village popularly known as the “Village of IITians." What makes it remarkable is the presence of IIT-educated engineers in almost every household. Every year, more than a dozen students from the village qualify for the IIT-JEE examinations
1 days ago
Jammu-born entrepreneur Onkar Singh Batra has added another remarkable achievement to an already extraordinary journey. From creating a website at the age of seven to developing a satellite at 16, Batra has spent much of his childhood exploring technology, entrepreneurship, and space
1 days ago
According to NITI Aayog’s Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047 report, only 8.25 per cent of graduates were able to secure jobs matching their qualifications in one year. This means that more than 91 per cent of graduates were either unemployed or working in jobs below their educational
1 days ago
I have passed Class 12 (PCMB) with a state rank of 10 and have taken NEET 2026 and KCET. I want to pursue B.Sc. Chemistry but people say I should not do so because I have such good marks. I am also considering BDS or a B.Sc. Paramedical course
1 days ago
Me: Lalitha, you’ve been colouring all this time. Do you enjoy colouring? This was an informal conversation I had with two young British-Indian children — a seven-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister, Lalitha — during a train journey from Coimbatore to Chennai.Me: Lalitha
1 days ago
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has been grounded in controversy since the NEET UG paper leak row. The central agency, which was envisaged in November 2017 as a single agency for conducting all higher education entrance exams, is under scanner after cancellation of UGC NET exam for three subjects
1 days ago
An estimated 8.7 crore Indians aged 15 to 29 are not studying, working or undergoing training, said a report by the NITI Aayog, the main public policy think tank of the Union government. The report, titled Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047
1 days ago
Over the past decade, India’s finance talent pool has expanded rapidly. Access to education has improved, certifications are more widely pursued, and exposure to financial concepts has increased. But the biggest concern in finance education today is the shift towards attention-driven learning
2 days ago
Eligibility: Indian nationals in school (Class 9 to 12), UG or PG courses with at least 75% or 7.9 CGPA (10% relaxation for SC/ST students) and an annual family income not exceeding ₹300,000 (School students) and ₹600,000 (other categories). Eligibility: Indian nationals in school (Class 1 to
2 days ago
The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday issued a show-cause notice to M/s Eduquity Career Technologies Pvt. Ltd. over lapses in the conduct of the All India AYUSH Post Graduate Entrance Test (AIAPGET) at an examination centre in Jaipur
2 days ago
For several decades, AutoCAD has remained the foundational tool in Civil Engineering practice. It has shaped how design documentation is produced, reviewed, and executed across projects of varying scales. However, in the current trajectory of the Architecture, Engineering
2 days ago
Having read several of Saikat Majumdar’s novels and a couple of his non-fiction books, I consider him one of those rare contemporary writers who move seamlessly across fiction, nonfiction, and academia – embodying the spirit of a true literary polymath
2 days ago
Ausa police in Maharashtra’s Latur district have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, associate Ajinkya Shinde, and three to four unidentified individuals following allegations of unorganised intrusion, filming
2 days ago
For generations, the pursuit of grades or marks has ruled Indian academia. Teachers quite often lament that this socially constructed obsession with high scores impedes authentic contextual learning. Yet the contemporary learner is moving away from a test-oriented approach to ask: What will I get
3 days ago
A moving note reading “I will become a doctor in my next life" was recovered after a 19-year-old NEET aspirant died by suicide at his residence in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. The deceased, identified as Krishna Subhash Sonawane
3 days ago
The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday night defended its Rs 200 fee for challenging an answer key, saying the system is “designed to be fair" to all students. The agency also rejected concerns that the charge is “too expensive". The NTA’s answer key challenge process allows candidates
3 days ago
The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, will confer the National Teachers Awards on 48 school teachers at Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi, on September 5, 2026. The purpose of the National Teachers Award is to celebrate the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers in the country and to honour
3 days ago
The COVID-19 pandemic permanently reshaped how colleges and universities deliver coursework, conduct exams, and share resources. The shift toward hybrid and blended learning that it accelerated has become the new standard. For many students, this transformation has unlocked greater flexibility and
3 days ago
AP ICET Counselling 2026: The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has officially announced the schedule for the AP ICET 2026 centralised web counselling. Candidates seeking admission to MBA and MCA programmes at universities and affiliated colleges in the state can commence
3 days ago
The Centre on Thursday (August 20, 2026) told the Supreme Court that the 2026 University Grants Commission equity regulations on preventing caste-based discrimination on campuses is under reconsideration. On January 29, the apex court had directed that the University Grants Commission (Promotion of
5 days ago
In June 2026, thousands of students gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar after the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) was cancelled following a paper leak, demanding accountability from the government. The protests, which culminated in the resignation of Union Education Minister
5 days ago
Following NEET UG, irregularities have also come to light in the UGC NET June 2026 examination. However, the Central Government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the system used to conduct NEET UG is foolproof and difficult to breach. The government explained that several moderators are
5 days ago
The NCERT has reconstituted the textbook development team for classes 11 and 12 political science with a mandate to integrate cultural rootedness, Indian knowledge systems and inclusion, with at least four of the members having direct or indirect links with the RSS
5 days ago
The Delhi High Court has put JNU’s postgraduate admissions on hold. The court has stopped the university from finalising any admissions that use extra “deprivation points." The court said adding bonus marks to scores from a big national exam like CUET is unfair
5 days ago
In many Maths classrooms, a student encounters a challenging question, pauses for a moment, and almost immediately looks towards the teacher for assistance. Within seconds, a method is demonstrated, the solution is revealed, and the class moves on. The problem is solved
6 days ago
A university convocation is traditionally a rite of passage—a solemn initiation where the next generation of legal minds are welcomed into the fold of justice. However, this month, the halls of NALSAR University of Law became the site of a regulatory tantrum that threatened to undermine the very
6 days ago
IIT Kharagpur will begin the registration process for the Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM) 2027 on September 5, 2026. The application window will remain open until October 12, 2026. The institute, which is organising the examination this year
7 days ago
![New Delhi [India], August 15 (ANI): The number of Electronics Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) units in India increased to 79 in 2025-26 from 70 two years](http://newsorbit360.com/files/news/en/imgs/electronics-hardware-technology-park-units-increase-to-79-in-two-years.png?width=120&height=70)
