Law schools to follow both exam and non-exam modes; no exam guidelines from BCI

After the Bar Council of India’s exam guidelines of 2020 were challenged in the court, it has decided not to issue any uniform set of instructions for intermediate or final year LLB exams this year.

The Council in its latest announcement stated that “universities, centres and law schools should conduct examination for intermediate and final year law students as per their discretion, depending upon the availability of resources and the impact of COVID-19 in that region.” While some institutes have conducted the exams for LLB students in April-May, many universities have them scheduled in June. There are some universities that have taken the liberty to devise their evaluation mechanisms.

Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Punjab, will hold the exams from July 1 onwards. “While the exams will be conducted in online open-book examination (OBE) mode, the question pattern has been changed this year. Students will be assessed based on application-based questions. The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University of Law, Hyderabad, has already completed the assessment for its students and it did not conduct any annual examinations this year. Students were evaluated based on two assignments of 25 marks each and internal tests of 50 marks. “Unlike last year, we were prepared for no physical assessment. The internal tests were conducted in April and those students who did not have a laptop or stable internet connection were allowed to come to the campus and appear for the exams. But universities that have a huge student population are unable to conduct online exams smoothly due to lack of digital infrastructure available for every student,” said V Balakista Reddy, professor of law and registrar, NALSAR.

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