The governing authority of the legal education system of India, Bar Council of India (BCI) released a notification about the abolishment of the one year post graduation course in LLM. BCI further says that it is mandatory for law students to complete LLB degree course of either three or five years for pursuing LLM course. There will be a Post Graduate Common Entrance Test in Law which will be conducted for getting an admission into LLM courses in any universities or colleges.
As per the new norms by BCI, at the time of the application process, the aspiring students will have to share their PGCETL score with the university or the college they are applying for admission. Then a final merit list will be released after considering the prevalent classification and the reservation.
For the candidates seeking admission in LLM, from a foreign university:
If a student has the two year LLM degree from a foreign university, then it will be valid only if the LLB certification is completed and the LLB course must be done from any recognised university in India.
The notification from BCI also adds that one-year LLM degree obtained from any foreign university will also not be considered equivalent to the LLM degree in India.
The impact on Common Law Admission Test - PG
At present, Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is conducted by the Consortium of National Law Universities, for proving admissions to LLM programmes. But due to the new rule, it is mandatory to qualify the post-graduate common entrance test. So other law admission tests for LLM such as CLAT PG, may get replaced.
On the other hand many National Law Universities and law schools in India used to offer one-year LLM course through CLAT or some other entrance exams, but by making LLM a two-year course means, the institutions will have to restructure their programmes.
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