Tamil Nadu HC shocked by law paper errors urges reforms

December 19, 2008: The Times of India

When 99% of the people are recruited on the basis of ‘caste’, and not ‘merit’, what more can one expect?

CHENNAI: It was his last day in office and the case could not have been more topical and relevant it concerned the standards of legal education in Tamil Nadu.

A PIL filed by an advocate had sought to focus attention on the sheer number of errors in the question paper for a Master of Law examination. Listing the bloomers (see box) in the questions, the first bench headed by Chief Justice AK Ganguly said: ¶If this is the standard of ML degree in the Dr Ambedkar Law University, this court is shocked and dismayed.¶

Reading through the countless mistakes which marked the text, Justice Ganguly and Justice K Chandru expressed an urgent need for reforms in law education.

The PIL had been filed by advocate G Krishnamurthy, himself an ML student of the university. The petitioner who furnished a photocopy of a question paper for a mid-term test, said not even 10% of the prescribed syllabus had been covered by teachers.

Appalled by ¶questions that did not make any sense,¶ the judges said: ¶We are at pains to point out that the standard must be drastically improved.¶

Justice Ganguly…asked the vice-chancellor to put together a report within a month, which would then be placed before the Chief Justice to finalise ways to improve standards of legal education.

Reacting to a PIL which pointed out the flaws in a law exam question paper, the Madras high court has urged the Dr Ambedkar Law University to immediately take steps to improve the standards of legal education in the state.

Expressing deep concern over the quality of teaching being provided, Chief Justice A K Ganguly and Justice K chandru said, ¶This court, with a deep sense of anguish and anxiety, directs the director of legal studies to look into the matter so as to ensure that proper standard of teaching and holding of classes is maintained and properly qualified teachers are made available to teach students of the ML course.¶

Commenting on the state of affairs, the judges said, ¶the present standard, which is being followed in respect of the ML degree course, is definitely much lower than what should be the standard in an undergraduate course in a recognised university, especially in such an important city as Chennai… In this state, the legal education is at a very low level in most of the colleges.¶

Noting that the court was constrained to come to the conclusion that no standard was maintained in the ML degree course in the law university, the judges said, ¶The question papers are clearly indicative of the fact that no seriousness is attached in the matter of conduct of the course for ML degree.¶