Distance degrees and a legal deadlock

Bar Council of Telangana's interpretation of a 2018 Madras High Court ruling is forcing law graduates with distance education degrees to seek Supreme Court intervention

- Sheena Sachdeva

On December 16, STS Glaides (45) filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court after failing to get enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Telangana. She had moved the Telangana High Court first but it dismissed her petition in October 2024. The problem: her bachelor's degree was earned through a correspondence course.

The issue extends beyond Glaides.

Her advocate, Gaurav Kumar, emphasised that the Bar Council of India's Rules of Legal Education 2008 permits candidates with correspondence or distance education in Classes 10, 12 and graduation to pursue threeyear or five-year LLB programmes.

He added, "The proviso to Rule 5 of Chapter II of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008 states that applicants who have obtained 10+2 Higher Secondary Pass Certificate or First Degree Certificate after prosecuting studies in distance or correspondence method shall also be considered as eligible for admission in the integrated five years course or three years LLB, as the case maybe." However, in 2018, the first judgment in the matter, Madras HC's three-judge (division) bench in the GS Jagadeesh vs The Chairman case ruled that candidates applying to LLB must have cleared Class 10 and 12 from a board recognised by the state of Tamil Nadu and have graduated from an Indian university, by attending a regular course.

But it allowed students who had studied and given exams privately to be eligible.