Patna Law College centenary celebrations begin on July 11

PATNA: Patna Law College, one of the oldest institutions of legal education in the country and mother of all law colleges in Bihar and Jharkhand, is celebrating its centenary this year on a grand scale. The Chief Justice of India is likely to inaugurate the centenary celebrations on July 11.

College principal Rakesh Verma told TOI that a 15-member preparatory committee, having Patna University (PU) VC Shyam Lal as patron and Justice Shiv Kirti Singh, Justice(retired) S N Jha, Justice Mridula Mishra, Bar Council of India chairman S N P Sinha, advocate general P K Shahi and others as members, has been constituted to make the celebrations a grand success.

This institution of higher learning has the proud privilege of producing two Chief Justices of India, B P Sinha and L M Sharma, besides a number of judges of the Supreme Court and various high courts, eminent legal luminaries and academicians.

Established in July 1909 as a Government Law College affiliated to Calcutta University, Patna Law College was transferred to Patna University after its inception in 1917. It was made a constituent unit of Patna University in 1952.

However, in the last few decades, the academic lustre of the college has faded considerably reportedly due to the indifference of the authorities concerned. No new appointments have been made in the college for the last several years, leading to deterioration of its academic standard. The college has virtually been running without regular teachers for the last one decade. The college was derecognised by the Bar Council of India about a decade back as the university did not maintain even the minimum strength of teachers in the college. The BCI, somehow, restored its affiliation to the college following the appointment of about half a dozen teachers on temporary basis.

This premier law college has not been able to start the five-year integrated law education till date, mainly due to shortage of teachers.

Verma said all the vacant posts of full-time and part-time teachers in Law College and post-graduate department of law have already been advertised by PU and the appointments are likely to be finalised soon.

Source : Times of India