Backlash forces BCI chairman to withdraw threat to disbar NALSAR law graduates

Within seven hours on Thursday evening, Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman and BJP Member of Parliament Manan Kumar Mishra took one step forward and two steps back. In an imperious letter to state bar councils, he ordered that no law graduate from the 2026 batch of NALSAR Law University, Hyderabad, should be enrolled as an advocate. Hours later, the BCI chairman ‘withdrew’ the order following ‘deliberations’ and, in a midnight tweet, effectively declared that the issue was closed and should be forgotten and forgiven.

In a scathing post, activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan said he was certain that there had been no meeting of the BCI, the apex regulatory body for lawyers, and no deliberation before either of the two decisions. “I can bet that there was no proper meeting of the BCI before his first or second order. This fellow feels that he can act like a dictator because he has the system under his control. This fellow’s place is in jail.”

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde reacted by saying, “The very utterance of this threat by the chairman on the letterhead of the Bar Council of India is a cause for great concern. The Bar Council’s reputation has been destroyed by its chairman’s repeated misuse of its letterhead. The other members of the Bar Council need to step up to restore the honour of the Bar Council by calling for the chairman to step aside, as he has held on for far too long and treated the institution as his personal fiefdom.”

NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, acknowledged receipt of both orders from the BCI while voicing doubts about their propriety and its own responsibility in the matter. In a press statement, the university said both orders would be placed before the Executive Council. The backlash from the legal fraternity put the BCI chairman on the back foot, and at midnight, he posted an apparent plea to ‘forget and forgive’.

Wishing the students ‘the very best’, Mishra said, “After considering the representations and reactions of Senior Advocates, learned members of the Bar, law students and public-spirited citizens, and being satisfied that the 2026 batch of NALSAR, Hyderabad, had no role in any disturbance or movement, the Bar Council of India has decided to close the proceedings altogether. No further action is required.”

In its first order, the BCI issued a directive barring 2026 graduates of NALSAR University of Law from enrolment with state bar councils. In its second directive on Thursday, the Bar Council of India (BCI) withdrew the earlier order, saying that the “vast majority of the students of NALSAR (those graduating in 2026) are innocent and they were not inclined to take part in the move of disrespect…a handful of teachers and outsiders were instrumental in instigating the innocent students”.

Accordingly, the BCI modified its earlier order, allowing all students to enrol with the Bar Council of their choice. The second directive, however, added that it would await the inquiry report from the Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR before taking any further action.

The original directive stated that the BCI had taken note of reports in the public domain concerning “an organised campaign” at NALSAR by students opposing the participation of the Chief Justice of India at the convocation.

“A student of Law, having no regard or respect for the highest Judicial Office of the country, is not expected to be a responsible or sensible Advocate, Teacher or a Judge. Such persons shall always be a liability on the profession,” the BCI communication stated, alleging that “groupism and dirty politics” among some members of the academic staff had played an active role in “misleading, instigating and misguiding the students”.

The furious reaction from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) also put the BCI on the back foot. Warning BCI president Manan Kumar Mishra to withdraw the controversial orders immediately, CJP spokesperson Saurav Das questioned how Mishra had continued as BCI chairman since 2012. In another tweet, Das alleged that the BCI had spent Rs 14 crore in a year on meetings and seminars, according to auditors, and added that the performance of both the BCI and Mishra should be placed under scrutiny.