Bar Council Of India vs Board Of Mang. Dayanand Coll. Of Law And ...

1. The Bar Council of India challenges the judgments of the High Court of Allahabad in two Writ Petitions holding that the appointment of respondent No. 5 in these appeals as the Principal of the Dayanand College of Law was valid and within the competence of the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Chhatrapati Shri Sahu Ji Maharaj Kanpur University, Kanpur. Respondent No. 5 was appointed Principal of the said Law College on 11.12.1995. On an inspection, the Bar Council of India found that respondent No. 5 did not possess a qualification in law and hence withdrew its recognition to the College. At that stage, the Management of the College filed Civil Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 48183 of 2000 questioning the validity of the appointment of respondent No. 5 as the Principal of the College. Meanwhile, respondent No. 5 was transferred as the Principal of Nagrik Degree College and he challenged the said order of transfer on the ground that he was competent to hold the post of Principal of the Law College and the reason for his transfer was unsustainable and that a Principal could not be transferred to another College as sought to be done. The bone of contention in the Writ Petitions was whether a person who did not possess a degree or a postgraduate degree in law and was not qualified to practise law, could be appointed as the Principal of a Law College and whether it was not essential to have a degree in law before one could be appointed as Principal of a Law College. The Bar Council of India was not a party to the Writ Petitions. The High Court took the view that going by the Uttar Pradesh State Universities Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as, "the University Act"), such an appointment could be made notwithstanding anything contained in the Advocates Act, 1961 or in the Rules framed by the Bar Council of India. The High Court proceeded on the basis that there was a conflict between the two enactments, namely, the University Act and the Advocates Act and in terms of Article 254(2) of the Constitution of India, the University Act, the later State Act with the assent of the President, would prevail over the Advocates Act and since appointment to the post of a Principal of a College affiliated to a University was governed by the University Act, the appointment of respondent No. 5 as Principal of the Law College was liable to be upheld. It was also held that the Bar Council of India did not have any control regarding legal education. The order transferring respondent No. 5 away from the post of Principal of the Law College was consequently set aside. No notice was also issued to the Bar Council of India, the apex professional body of Advocates, before taking such a decision. However, taking note of the consequences of the decision rendered by the High Court, the Bar Council of India has filed these appeals challenging the decision of the High Court with the leave of this Court.

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17. The appeals are thus allowed, the judgments of the High Court are set aside. The Writ Petition filed by the management is allowed and the Writ Petition filed by respondent No. 5 is dismissed. The parties are directed to suffer their respective costs.