P-PIL was also involved in the challenge to the arbitrary age limit imposed by the Bar Council of India for the study of law. We showcased the sheer injustice of the age bar through the eyes of our IDIA scholar, Michael Sam, an orphan who started out on education late in life. Through an impleading application filed in the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1023/2016 before the Supreme Court, we argued that if India’s leading criminal lawyer, Ram Jethmalani can argue cases at the ripe old age of 95, there certainly should be no bar to the study of law! The Hon’ble Court was pleased to grant interim relief and stayed the notification imposing the age-limit, pending the outcome of the writ petition.
Update 1: On March 12, 2019, a Division Bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the Bar Council of India to reconsider the age limit.
In News