Nagpur: Law colleges in Nagpur and across the state have been slapped with hefty penalties by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for allegedly failing to initiate the mandatory course approval process and pay the prescribed fees within stipulated timeline. The issue has also delayed admissions for the current academic year, with the State CET Cell putting the admission process for both five-year BA LLB and three-year LLB courses on hold until colleges submit BCI approval for 2026-27. NU’s Dr Ambedkar College of Law is among few institutions to have escaped the penalty. However, despite complying, it too has been affected by the admission delay.According to college authorities, BCI has imposed a penalty of 3 lakh/course on institutions that failed to initiate approval process by prescribed deadline, usually around end of December. As a result, colleges offering both the three-year and five-year law programmes have had to pay at least 6 lakh, while institutions running an additional course have reportedly paid 9 lakh in penalties.Apart from the penalty, every law college is required to pay an annual BCI course fee of 3 lakh/programme. Officials said pending dues towards these fees have accumulated to between 40 lakh-60 lakh at several colleges.College officials pointed out while BCI had earlier granted approval for three years at a time, it has reduced the validity to one year.Private law colleges contend BCI insisted on submission of university affiliation letter for 2026-27 academic session as early as March, even though universities generally issue these letters only by end of May or in June.SM Rajan, director of Central India College of Law, said, “Law colleges should not be unnecessarily penalised due to belated issuance of affiliation letter by NU. Varsity officials should take up the matter directly with BCI and resolve it immediately. Otherwise, the students will suffer.”
