The Bar Council of India (BCI), the official regulator for legal education and lawyers, on Tuesday issued directives to the centres of legal education (CLE), making it mandatory for all students to declare their criminal antecedents, if any, and prohibit them from pursuing simultaneous degrees. Some of the directives issued:

Background check

To uphold the ethical standards of the legal profession, law students must maintain a clean criminal record. All law students will now be required to declare any ongoing FIR, criminal case, conviction, or acquittal before the issuance of their final marksheets and degrees. Failure to disclose such information will result in strict disciplinary action, including withholding of marksheet and degree. The CLEs must conduct a thorough criminal background check on each student before issuing the final marksheets and degrees.

Simultaneous degrees

Under Chapter II, Rule 6 of the Rules of Legal Education (2008), students are prohibited from pursuing more than one regular degree programme simultaneously. Law students must declare that they have not undertaken any other regular academic programme while pursuing their LLB degree, except for short-term, part-time certificate courses in areas such as language or computer applications, or programmes offered through distance learning, as allowed under the rules.

Employment status

Students must declare that they were not engaged in any job, service, or vocation during their LLB degree course unless they had obtained a valid no-objection certificate.