New Delhi. The Supreme Court has canceled both the notifications issued by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for the students of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. A bench headed by CJI Surya Kant said that the Bar Council of India has no legal authority to control the behavior of students. With this, the bench upheld its order in which BCI and state bar councils were restrained from taking any punitive action against law students or faculty. Earlier, during the hearing of this case on August 14, CJI Surya Kant had issued a notice to BCI President Manan Kumar and sought his reply.

In the last hearing, the CJI had said that the students wrote a letter to me, this is a matter between the students and me. BCI cannot interfere in this. If students protest within the ambit of law, then the Bar Council of India has no right to interfere in it. We are with the students. This entire controversy started with the students' protest against the inclusion of CJI Surya Kant as the chief guest at the convocation ceremony of NALSAR University. BCI President Manan Kumar Mishra had issued a circular to the Bar Councils of all the states terming the law students' protest as an insult to the CJI.

There was an order in this that students passing out from NALSAR University should not be enrolled as lawyers. However, Manan Kumar Mishra later withdrew his circular. In this case, CJI Surya Kant of the Supreme Court had said in the last hearing that who is the BCI to issue the circular? When I was in college, I was also active in student activities. Sometimes, even if students are saying the wrong thing, if they are raising their voice within the ambit of law, then they should be allowed to do so.