Ahmedabad: In a major breakthrough aimed at ending the prolonged deadlock affecting legal education in the state, the Gujarat govt has announced it will pay over Rs 11 crore in default fees owed by 28 grant-in-aid law colleges to the Bar Council of India (BCI). The move follows an earlier decision to waive Rs 3 lakh in annual inspection fees and Rs 50,000 in application fees for each college.The impasse had stalled student admissions for months due to unresolved legal and administrative issues. With this decision, the state education department has agreed to clear all outstanding dues—including default penalties—directly to the BCI, based on demand letters submitted by colleges through the education commissioner’s office.Several colleges had been labelled defaulters for failing to pay annual inspection and renewal approval fees over the years. The state’s financial intervention marks a critical step toward normalizing academic operations. The cumulative default dues range from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per institution, totalling over Rs 10 crore, in addition to Rs 90 lakh in inspection and application charges.Sources also confirmed that the govt is preparing to issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the recruitment of one principal and eight faculty members per college—a key requirement set by the BCI for granting permission to admit students.Once the faculty recruitment process receives final clearance, admissions for the current academic year are expected to begin across all 28 affected colleges.With this, the long-pending dispute appears to be nearing resolution, opening the doors for thousands of aspiring law students across Gujarat.
