The Bar Council of India (BCI) which regulates legal education and lawyers, on Wednesday constituted a 12-member expert committee to evaluate the pattern of LLB exams in view of requests from various quarters.

The committee is headed by Justice Govind Mathur, former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court.

According to the BCI chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra, the council had initially been against interfering with the present system since earlier guidelines issued by it had been quashed by Karnataka High Court on February 8.

However, the BCI said, students of several centres of legal education, including 273 students of law at Delhi University, had sent emails requesting that the LLB intermediate semester exams and promotions be held as per UGC guidelines that recommend 50 per cent weightage to internal assessment and 50 per cent to performance in exams.

Also, Prof. Vandana, the dean of the faculty of law at Delhi University, had written to the BCI saying DU had asked her to find out if there were any instructions on LLB exams in the open-book blended (internal assessment and practical exams) mode. The exams are to begin on June 10.