- Bar Council of India withdrew order barring NALSAR 2026 batch from enrolling as advocates
- BCI Chairman Manan Mishra admitted the initial order was issued in haste and later reversed
- The council decided no further inquiry will be conducted, closing the matter entirely
Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, who triggered a controversy with his action and subsequent U-turn on an order against NALSAR law students, has accepted that the BCI acted in "haste" and that the move was recalled after deliberations.
The Bar Council of India on Thursday evening withdrew its order which barred students belonging to the 2026 batch of Hyderabad law college, the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), from enrolling as advocates.
Just hours earlier, the BCI had directed every State Bar Council not to enroll any student graduating from Hyderabad's NALSAR University of Law in 2026 as an advocate until further orders, after students of the institution protested against an invitation to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to attend the university's convocation.
Speaking to NDTV about his move and subsequent backtracking, Mishra on Friday conceded that the first order was issued in haste.
"It was a hasty decision. The council had detailed deliberations and decided to change the order. The issue now stands closed," Manan Mishra, who is also a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, told NDTV.
Read | Bar Council's Big Step On Students Opposing Chief Justice, Then A Withdrawal
While the modified notice stated that the apex lawyers' body will wait for the final inquiry report from the university, Mishra told NDTV that there will be "no further inquiry into the matter and the issue now stands closed".
"We don't want any confrontation between the Bar and the students," he added.
"The council realised that the order could lead to a clash between the students and the judiciary, and we withdrew it within 40 minutes."
The new notification modified the earlier order, saying the "vast majority" of the students were innocent and should not be made to suffer for the alleged misconduct of a few.
In the fresh communication, BCI Chairman Mishra said its members had thoroughly discussed the earlier letter issued and unanimously decided to modify the direction concerning the enrolment of the students.
"All the students will be entitled to get enrolled with the State Bar Councils of their choice," he said in the letter.
Mishra's clarification and U-turn came after massive backlash over the move.
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi lashed out at the BCI chief, asking what powers Mishra had to pass such an order.
"Students have every right to object to the participation of a public figure at their university. You can disagree but not threaten their careers just because it troubles you. The larger goal seems clear: to ban independent thinking in law universities and to create a pliant academic culture," Owaisi posted on X.
Rejecting Owaisi's remarks, Mishra said that the AIMIM leader was trying to politicise the issue. "The chapter is closed. There is no point in using this to play politics," he said.
He requested everyone to treat the chapter as "closed" and move ahead, keeping the interest of the students in mind.
