India sees massive law college surge; Tamil Nadu leads with 370% growth, UP has most courses

NEW DELHI: The city of Allahabad – now Prayagraj – in Uttar Pradesh is most famous as the site of the 12-yearly Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, numerous ghats and places of historical and religious significance. However, over the last decade, a different entity has become practically ubiquitous in Prayagraj district – law college.

While the city is home to the largest high court in the country, Allahabad High Court, until the past few years, it had few institutions for legal education. The only options were the faculty of law at the University of Allahabad, which runs one of the oldest law programmes in the country; two of AU’s constituent colleges; Nehru Gram Bharati deemed-to-be university; and a few institutes affiliated to the Prof. Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) University (PRSU), earlier known as the Allahabad State University.

Today, the district has more than 100 law colleges, most of them affiliated to PRSU, in addition to a private university offering law courses.

The latest data from legal education regulator Bar Council of India’s (BCI) portal suggests that of 80-odd recognised PRSU affiliated colleges, over 70 have been set up in 2012 or later. Information on PRSU’s website indicates that of 744 affiliated colleges, 132 are law institutes and 99 of them located in Prayagraj district, while the rest are spread across the nearby Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Pratapgarh.

The difference in the varsity and BCI figures could be because the latter is only updated till 2023. Also, the year of establishment is missing in some of the council entries for new courses.

Law colleges in India: Explosive growth

While an extreme example, Prayagraj is indicative of the explosive growth in legal education avenues around the country in recent years. BCI data shows spikes in 2002 and 2012 in the number of new undergraduate law programmes in new as well as existing institutes. There was an increase in both the three-year and the integrated five-year LLB with all its variations, including the BA LLB and BBA LLB . These growth spurts were largely sustained for close to a decade.

The number of newly-approved LLB programmes in a year, which never crossed 29 until 2001, suddenly jumped to 55 in 2002 and to 104 in 2009. The second leap came in 2012 with the addition of 158 courses, which climbed up to 229 in 2018 - the highest number of annual approvals so far. While the rate of growth slowed down a few notches during the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, it regained in 2022.

States with most law courses recognised by BCI

While both three and five-year programmes have witnessed expansion, the latter’s growth was faster, so much so that, in terms of the number of programmes, the new course has surpassed its forerunner. The number of three-year LLB courses has more than doubled, from around 763 in 2011 to 1,600 till 2023. In this period, the five-year course count more than tripled from around 499 to 1,659.

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Data also shows that the mushrooming of law colleges is a nationwide phenomenon, including in the southern states, which had a lower concentration of law colleges despite performing better in higher education in general. It, however, also shows some parts of the country recording disproportionately high surges in law programmes.

Law Courses: States and surges

The southernmost states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are among those that recorded the highest growth rate. While the former added 78 new courses to the mere 20 it had till 2011, the latter saw 52 new courses over 16 available in the state. Other states with notable scale-up in legal education opportunities are Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana which, despite their relatively small populations, got 55, 77 and 86 new courses post-2011.

However, in terms of absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in the country, towers above the rest. While, at 219, the state already had the highest number of law programmes across India in 2011, it now has 820. Prayagraj may have seen the sharpest growth but new law courses appear to be evenly spread across the state.

UP’s three state universities – Chaudhary Charan Singh University at Meerut, PRSU and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj University (CSMU) at Kanpur – top the list of universities with the highest number of new courses since 2012. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, is placed a few spots below.

In some states, the growth appears to be concentrated at certain universities. For example, the University of Mumbai (MU) in Maharashtra got 71 new law courses approved in this period, while Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyala (DAV University) at Madhya Pradesh’s Indore recorded 34 fresh programmes. While in most states, the new institutions are affiliated to state universities, in states like Gujarat and Haryana, the law boom is spurred by private universities.

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Law Colleges: Beyond the mushrooming growth

According to experts, a host of factors allowed the proliferation of law schools, not unlike the situation in engineering. Stagnancy and limited employment avenues in other professions, prestige associated with legal practice, profiteering for educational organisations and a lax regulatory mechanism – all contributed to the mushrooming.

And much like engineering, the glut of law colleges is increasingly leading to concerns about shortage of faculty and downslide in education quality.

Concerned about the mushrooming of law colleges and dilution of standards, the BCI in August 2019 had imposed a moratorium on approving new institutes. However, in December 2020, the ban was overturned by a single-judge bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for being violative of the Constitution of India. The council challenged the order but withdrew it in June 2021.

In early 2024, BCI wrote to all university vice chancellors, urging them to conduct thorough inspections before granting no-objection certificates (NOCs) for new legal education centres.

However, some law teachers blame the regulator and government for approving courses despite inadequate infrastructure and teachers. They point out that such approvals are a lucrative revenue source for the BCI which charges Rs 3 lakh and 5 lakh for annual affiliation of non-honours and honours programmes, respectively. The council is also known to impose heavy fines in case of violation of its rules.

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“There has been no compliance of infrastructure and faculty norms. Most of the private institutes, run either by political figures or religious organisations, have become money minting machines, with little control over the ever-increasing fees. Many of the colleges in Gujarat rarely fail students, thereby enhancing their pass percentage. The teachers at these colleges haven’t cleared the national or state eligibility tests. In Mumbai, attendance norms aren’t enforced strictly and students are allowed to take exams after paying fines,” said a teacher, who has taught law at private institutions in Mumbai and Vadodara.

The teacher also claimed that many of the private universities in Gujarat are exploiting students by making the hostel stay compulsory. To this end, they focus on enrolling students from either remote parts of the state or outside it.

According to Rahul Bisarya, professor and head of law department at Allahabad Degree College, a constituent college of University of Allahabad, many students are drawn to the field of law due to its perceived social status. There are also diverse roles available to law graduates, such as assistant prosecution officer (APO), sub-registrar, legal advisor, corporate lawyer and judge.

That said, many also opt for it after failing to secure admission in still more aspirational disciplines, such as medicine. For some, it’s a filler engagement until they are sure of their paths or are preparing for competitive exams.

“Lawyers tend to be treated with respect, even if the employment and earning potential in the field remain low,” said Bisarya. “Due to the prevalent rowdiness and low education levels in Uttar Pradesh, lawyers often act as mediators in disputes and offer legal advice.”

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The law teacher also noted that LLB and LLM programmes are increasingly drawing science and tech graduates – earlier, most were from humanities streams – and a large number of women, at least some of whom enrol to stave off marriage.

The educators, however, fear that the rapid growth of law programmes is unsustainable and will likely meet the same fate as technical education institutes, which had to shut after a short-lived boom.

“Many of the colleges already have vacant seats. If the institutes are unable to find qualified faculty, they should simply not run these programmes,” said the law teacher.