Need new building for law, more seat capacity for LLM: Maharashtra Students Union

Mumbai University. File pic

Maharashtra Students Union (MSU) have written to the University of Mumbai's vice-chancellor demanding to increase the seat capacity for LLM (a postgraduate law degree) from 600 to 1,500. It has also demanded a new independent state-of-the-art building for the law department.

High demand, less seats

Advocate Siddharth Ingle, who is also the founder-president of the MSU said, "There are a total of 279 approved law colleges in Maharashtra which have 26,340 student capacity for LLB and BLS courses. This number has increased by about 40 per cent over the past five years and is likely to double in the next five years, given the growing trend of law courses."

Ingle added, "Out the 279 law colleges, some are affiliated to 11 non-agricultural universities in the state, out of which 31 per cent or about 88 colleges are affiliated to Mumbai university for the BLS and LLB course, respectively, and the total student intake capacity of the university is 11,860. Therefore, the demand for Master in Law (or LLM) courses has increased significantly."

The following are the statistics of the past two years of the Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted by the University of Mumbai for the LLM programme: In 2019-20, total 3,539 students and in 2020-21, total 4,725 students appeared for the CET, and nearly 2,939 and 4,125 students were deprived of direct admissions at Mumbai University due to shortage of seats."

17 colleges running without qualified faculties

The union has also alleged that 17 private law colleges affiliated to the university do not have the required infrastructure and qualified faculties as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Bar Council of India's (Legal Education Rules, 2008) guidelines. The union further claims that these colleges charge exorbitant fees, almost six to seven times higher than prevailing university fee slabs.

Ingle said, "These 17 colleges are in Mumbai, Thane, Konkan, Kalyan and Palghar, and are affiliated to Mumbai University. They charge Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 as a yearly fee, as compared to R6,000 plus that the University of Mumbai charges. Students from the poorer section enrol to these colleges only because of its affiliation, hence, we have requested for an increase in seats at the university itself."

‘Need a separate building'

According to Ingle, "UMLA is at present operating from Shankarrao Chavan Training Institute, at university's Kalina campus and has a mere 120 intake of students. The building also occupies a well-known film producer's academy and an office in the other section of the university. We have demanded converting the said building into a state of art Department of Law, with computers and a high-tech library, which would help extensive research to be done in matters of law," said Ingle.

"Both the vice-chancellor and the registrar have assured to look into our demand and to present them before the Board of Studies and Management Council in their upcoming meeting and a decision would be taken soon," he added.

Sudhir Puranik, Registrar, Mumbai University, has confirmed the submission made by MSU, and said, "The university will consider the request positively."

The attempts to contact Manan Kumar Mishra, chairman of the Bar Council of India, did not yield results.

Demands raised

. To increase the student intake capacity of the Master of Law or LLM course from 600 to 1,500.
. Establishment of a new independent state-of-the-art building for the law department.
. As per the intake capacity, recruit professors permanently and appointment of administrative staff as per the norms and rules of the UGC.
. Provide all the mandatory up-to-date facilities in the new independent modern building subject as per the rules of the UGC.