BCI blinked. Students didn’t.
Hyderabad’s NALSAR briefly had its 2026 batch frozen out of enrolment. A day later, the Bar Council of India backed off. The Supreme Court discussion that followed asked the obvious: who authorised this stunt.
The Bar Council of India withdrew its enrolment direction a day after issuing it.
The Bar Council of India told State Bar Councils to hold off enrolling NALSAR’s 2026 graduates — a move tied to a student campaign opposing Chief Justice Surya Kant’s presence at the university’s convocation — and then withdrew the direction on August 13, saying the matter was closed, according to multiple reports. For a national regulator to trip over student speech, then reverse in 24 hours, is a look.
The Supreme Court took the issue up the next day. As reported from the hearing, CJI Surya Kant said, “If the students have a cause to protest, they have the right to protest,” and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked whether the BCI had actually convened to take such a decision. Those are oral observations reported from court, not yet matched to an official order — the questions still land.
Two facts are not in dispute from what is on record here: NALSAR is Hyderabad’s law university, and its graduates’ enrolment is not a toy for Delhi’s mood swings. Telangana built institutions that deliver; what they don’t need is a national body improvising punishments first and thinking later. The BCI has called it closed. Good — and next time, try opening a meeting before closing a batch.