Chandigarh: The Panjab University (PU) authorities on Wednesday accepted the students’ demand to change the timings of law classes and announced that the fresh timetable would come into effect next semester. Students of the first semester were on strike demanding a change in timings for the last two days.
Accoring to the Indian Express, The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the chairperson, Department Student Welfare (DSW), and Dean of University Instructions (DUI). At the meeting, they approved the demand for changing the timetable set earlier this session on the orders of the Bar Council of India.
The new timetable would be from 8.30 am to 3 pm instead of 8.30 am to 4 pm. Now, classes would be held from 8.30 am to 1.30 pm, five classes each of one-hour duration with a half-hour break till 2 pm, followed by a presentation class from 2 pm to 3 pm.
For two days, the first semester law students boycotted the new timing of 8.30 am to 4 pm. The boycott was lifted on Wednesday morning following the announcement of the change in timing.
Earlier, law department Chairperson Shalini Marwaha said the rules had been laid down by the Bar Council in 2008 and made mandatory for all law institutions across the country. The 2017-18 admission rules of the law department included the same information and the students had been admitted under the same guidelines. The letter, sent to PU by the Bar Council in 2016, stated that the law course needs to be more than just a degree or a certificate for practice.
Therefore, in legal Education Rules 2008, the teaching duration and hours of study have been fixed at 30 hours per week by the Bar Council. With the evening batches cancelled, the new timetable is for five days a week. Classes are to be held from 8:30 am to 10 am. Following a half-hour break, classes would be held from 10:30 to 1:30 pm. With a second break for an hour, classes would be from 2:30 pm to 4 pm.
Department representative Gurpreet Singh said, “Earlier, lectures were delivered in two batches of morning and evening. From this session, the department has decided to deliver four lectures a day, each of one-and-a-half hours. We have requested the administration to follow the previous pattern.”
Also at the meeting, the students suggested that the 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm classes be made flexible. Around that time, classes are held for seminars and presentations, which are mandatory for the students. Instead the students wish the opposite so that they could be engaged in practical activities related to the practice of law.