Supreme Court allows provisional enrolment of advocates with prior distance-mode degrees

The Supreme Court has allowed provisional enrolment of candidates as advocates where their law degree was obtained through regular mode, but preceding educational qualifications came via open, distance or correspondence mode. A Division Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed the Telangana State Bar Council to provisionally enrol the applicants pending final adjudication.

The Court clarified that provisional enrolment granted under this order shall not create any equity in favour of the persons concerned and will abide by the final decision in the respective civil appeals. The matter concerns interpretation of Rule 5 of the Rules of Legal Education, 2008, and whether the mode of earlier educational qualifications affects eligibility for enrolment despite completing a regular 3-year LLB course from a Bar Council of India-recognised university.