Law

A week or so from now, the Shakti Act will be reintroduced, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly on the second day of the winter session in the state Assembly during the Question Hour. He said the Shakti (Maharashtra Criminal Law Amendment) Bill of 2020, which was enacted in 2021, was referred to the President for assent, but it came back to Maharashtra for review, given that some new criminal laws have been enacted by the center.

“The Shakti Act would be brought before the assembly soon. Along with that, the state would also introduce three more stringent acts for women,” Fadnavis told media personnel. Currently, the state is taking legal opinions on the law to make it “even more stringent,” he emphasized.

Patterned after the Andhra Pradesh “Disha Act”, the “Shakti Bill” had punished rape with death, harsher sentences for serious offences such as acid attacks and sexual harassment, besides new offences for cyber harassment. This is pending for almost three years, awaiting Presidential assent, besides needing to be brought in line with the newly operational criminal laws by the Union Government. When the “Beti Bachao” campaign gained momentum, some states followed suit with their own bills, including Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal. These were either pending or still awaiting Presidential assent.

Discussion about the Shakti Law is in the context of the debate on the Beed suicide incident, with critical questions being raised by the Opposition. “The incident is tragic. Society is outraged. We have arrested Gopal Badne and Prashant Bankar, who were accused. Forensic science reports as well as digital evidence reveal that the writing on the hand of the suicide is that of the suicide herself,” Fadnavis replied. An investigation by the SIT led by a woman IPS officer is over, with a judicial inquiry also being held so that no fact is left behind.

He also mentioned that the victim was asked for an unfit-for-duty report and was deliberately deployed alone on certain dates. It is evident that the suspect misled her by promising marriage and then took advantage of her sexually. He also managed to get his hands on footage of the incident that took place at the hotel where the crime was committed. A judge is to be involved for a thorough investigation as some claims are still pending. A chargesheet is to be filed soon, he assured. In response to NCP leader Prakash Solanki's claim that NCP demands a government job for the victim's family, Fadnavis retorted: “She was on 11-month contracts. She is, therefore, not eligible for a job on compassionate terms.” “However, whatever is feasible on the humanitarian front would be taken care of,” he maintained. However, senior party leaders Nana Patole, Vijay Wadettiwar, Jyoti Gaikwad, Amit Satam, Sunil Prabhu, among other party leaders, found it hard to understand some of the deployment orders taken by the woman, including being posted to work alone that Wadettiwar called “a terror-creating situation

In a significant move aimed at restoring work-life balance for millions of employees, the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Saturday by NCP MP Supriya Sule. The private member’s bill proposes to give workers the legal right to ignore work-related calls, emails and messages after office hours and on holidays, thus address the growing culture of digital overwork in India.

The bill comes at a time when constant connectivity, long working hours and rising stress levels have become common concerns across sectors such as IT, media, finance, startups and corporate services. If passed, the legislation would set up an Employees' Welfare Authority that will be responsible for laying down guidelines to protect employees from after-hours communication and resolving disputes between workers and employers.

Introducing the bill, Sule said the legislation "seeks to advance a better quality of life and a healthier work-life balance by lessening burnout caused by today's digital culture." She also posted a video of the moment on social media platform X and emphasized the need for legal safeguards in a time when boundaries between professional and personal life have become increasingly blurred.

But the bill still has a long way to go, since, as a private member’s bill, it is unlikely to be passed into law without backing by the government. Most private member’s bills in India, after all, are either debated, diluted, or ultimately set aside. But political observers argue this proposal has managed to restart an important national conversation about employee rights, mental health, and workplace well-being.

On the same day, Sule also introduced two other private bills, the Paternity and Paternal Benefits Bill, 2025, seeking paid paternal leave, and another, the Code on Social Security Amendment Bill, 2025, aiming at recognizing gig workers as a separate class of workers with minimum wages and social security.

A day earlier, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor moved yet another private member bill to amend the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, to check long working hours and legally reinforce the right to disconnect. Quoting data, Tharoor said that over 51 per cent of India’s workforce works more than 49 hours a week, while 78 per cent experience burnout, linking excessive workload to deteriorating physical and mental health. While the Right to Disconnect Bill’s eventual fate is still uncertain, experts say its introduction marks an important turn in the way India is beginning to address the question of work culture in the digital era. Even without becoming law, the bill is likely to inform corporate policy, forcing organizations to implement healthier ways of communication and giving employees’ personal time respect.

Top Law Colleges India: Even the top govt schools like IIT Kharagpur, Rank 6, and JMI Rank 8, feature amongst the top legal schools according to NIRF 2025, though NLUs dominate the list. Eligibility criteria for admission are at least 45% in the 10+2 for the five-year LLB. For admission, good scores in tests such as CLAT or college-specific exams are required. A merit seat guarantees access to top corporate recruiters and a good return on investment.

While the NLUs are doubtless the cream amongst the law schools in India, there are enough good universities offering good LLBs, LLMs, and integrated degrees. Aspiring lawyers should aim at getting a good Return on Investment by targeting universities with top facilities, top-notch student records, and ample placement opportunities. Qualifying for major entrance tests, including the most popular CLAT, LSAT India, AIBE, or college-specific entrance tests like DUET, whichever the university that they target accepts, is the primary route toward these merit seats.

However, there is another route for getting in, through the management quota seats for those who may not get a top merit score, but then the fees are considerably higher. A decent college professional law degree is well worth its price, no matter by what means one gets in, considering the fact that the student can expect a respectable job thereafter. The best campus recruiters for top law schools include the top legal firms, corporate bodies such as O P Khaitan & Co., Talwar Thakore & Associates, and Satyam, and regulatory bodies such as SEBI, assuring lucrative career options to their graduates.

There are, of course, a number of other very prestigious and high-achieving government-funded legal institutions. But the cream, so to speak, of legal education is constituted by the NLUs. These, then, are the Top 7 government law schools according to the NIRF Law Rankings 2025-including other Central Universities and INIs but specifically excluding those that identify as NLUs-such as NLSIU, NLU Delhi, NALSAR, etc.

Law Colleges in India: Eligibility and Admission Process

Eligibility Criteria

Undergraduate: 5-Year B.A./B.B.A. LL.B.: Should have passed the 10+2 examination from a recognized board or its equivalent. Minimum aggregate: Normally 45% for the General Category, though there may be exemptions in case of restricted categories down to 40% in case of SC/ST.

Postgraduate: 3-Year LL.B.: The candidate needs to graduate from any recognized university in any academic background, such as B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., and B.Tech. A minimum aggregate score, in most cases, falls in the bracket of 45-50%.

The candidate must have a 3-year or a 5-year LL.B. degree from an accredited and BCI-approved university in order to apply for the LL.M. course. The minimum aggregate marks sufficient for the LL.B. degree is 50% to 55%. 

Admission procedure Obligatory 

Entrance Exams: Most well-reputed colleges, NLUs, IIT Kharagpur and private universities require qualification via a national-level entrance test, which is mostly CLAT for NLUs and affiliates or AILET for NLU Delhi. 

Application and Registration Procedure: Online registration in the respective entrance test is the first step. Candidates will further have to apply individually to the universities accepting their test scores before the last dates. 

Centralized Counselling/Shortlisting: Candidates securing cutoff percentile will be shortlisted for centralized counselling, such as CLAT counselling for NLUs, or institutional WAT and PI rounds. 

Final seat allotment will be done based on a composite score reflecting rank obtained in the entrance exam and performance in PI/WAT rounds. It is then followed by verification of documents and depositing admission fees to confirm the merit seat.

CLAT 2026 is scheduled on December 7th and is a gateway to 25 NLUs in the country. It is considered one of the most competitive entrance examinations in the country, seeing around 60,000-75,000 applicants for merely 5,790 seats every year. With the annual tuition fee for the undergraduate law programmes at NLUs ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh every year, a growing number of students are looking for other imperative law entrance examinations in India, which can help increase their chances of getting admission into a credible academic institution.

CLAT PG scores are also accepted by a number of government organisations, such as Coal India and Oil India, apart from recruitment into the JAG branch of the Indian Army. Further, IIULER, Goa, established by the Bar Council of India Trust, has started giving admissions based on scores obtained in CLAT.

A major alternative test to CLAT which will be held in near future is AICLET, which is popularly known as the All India Common Law Entrance Test. Being an all-India level test, it aims at mainly analyzing the legal aptitude, analytical ability, and logical reasoning of an applicant. The test is gaining fast momentum among students seeking admission in the private and semi-government law colleges offering BA LLB, BBA LLB, and LLB courses. According to education experts, AICLET is increasing the access to legal education among students who barely miss the admission in NLUs.

Another important entrance test is AILET, conducted by National Law University, Delhi. It is to be noted that CLAT score is not considered for admission by NLU, Delhi. So, AILET is a very crucial alternative option for the students aiming for this prestigious institution. It is scheduled to be held on December 14 from 2 pm - 4 pm through online mode. It will offer BA LLB (Hons), LLM, and PhD, with only 110 seats for the undergraduate course.

The NLAT conducted by NMIMS also remains a popular choice. The NMIMS, with campuses in Mumbai, Indore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh, conducts its examination in March for which applications start in December. NMIMS continues to be a favorite among top law aspirants with its modern teaching methods, global exposure, and strong training in corporate law.

Similarly, SLAT is conducted for admission to the BA LLB and BBA LLB courses offered at the Symbiosis campuses in Pune, Noida, Hyderabad, and Nagpur. The test will be conducted on December 20 and December 28 while applications can be submitted till November 30. The Symbiosis Law Schools have earned their due reputation for their infrastructure, academic flexibility, and placement record. The MH CET Law, conducted by Maharashtra State CET Cell, is a gateway to prestigious government institutions like Government Law College (GLC), Mumbai, and ILS Law College, Pune. 

The application process starts in December, with the exam scheduled for April. It is considered the best option among students for pursuing legal education inexpensively with bright career prospects. Besides this, CUET admits students for the law courses offered at Delhi University and Banaras Hindu University. CUET is held online in CBT mode in May, whose application process starts in March. It extends a single-window opportunity to the candidates for applying to multiple central universities. These six law entrance examinations, other than CLAT, offer a number of promising pathways for aspirants to build a successful legal career in India.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that all issues related to the West Bengal school teacher recruitment scandal be heard by the Calcutta High Court, while making it clear that candidates who had been found 'tainted' earlier should not be permitted into the fresh selection process.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe observed that the top court had been monitoring the compliance with its earlier judgment, but since the High Court was already examining the recruitment process in great detail, it was fitting that the state court play the role of the first-instance court.

"The High Court shall ensure that none of the tainted candidates are allowed to slip through in the fresh selections, be it on any pretext. The High Court shall also ensure that the list of tainted candidates is placed in the public domain with full details," the Supreme Court said.

The West Bengal School Service Commission, earlier this week, came out with a fresh comprehensive list of 1,806 'tainted' teachers who had been recruited earlier through the State Level Selection Test conducted in 2016.

Many petitioners had sought to withdraw their appeals from the Supreme Court to approach the High Court directly. The bench allowed these withdrawals and dismissed the petitions with liberty to move the state court.

For remaining petitions, the delays were condoned and all issues were ultimately referred to the Calcutta High Court.

The Supreme Court also reminded the High Court that candidates previously found untainted in the 2016 recruitment exercise must be allowed to appear in the fresh exams, and their prospects cannot be affected by the new rules framed for teacher appointments in 2025.

"The unblemished candidates of the past selection were permitted to sit for the selection tests to be held afresh and their candidature cannot be adversely affected by application of the new rules," it said. The bench left the interpretative questions arising out of its earlier judgments to the High Court while disposing of all pending petitions and applications at the Supreme Court level. With this, the Calcutta High Court now has full authority to conduct a comprehensive review of the recruitment process while ensuring transparency and fairness.

After violent unrest shook VIT University in Sehore district, the Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Department has finally issued a show-cause notice to its management. The university management has been given seven days to explain serious violations. Unsatisfactory replies would see the department initiating disciplinary action under Section 41(2).

The notice is based on a damning report submitted by the three-member inquiry committee of the MP Private University Regulatory Commission. NDTV has accessed the report that reveals disturbing conditions, administrative failure, and shocking mismanagement at one of the state's biggest private universities.

The panel found the university hostel mess in "extremely unsatisfactory" condition. The students complained about poor quality of food and beverages, contaminated water with a foul smell in the drinking water. The management admitted that there had been an outbreak of jaundice from November 14 to 24, in which 23 male and 12 female students were afflicted, indicating prima facie water contamination.

The report maps the university as running like a fortress of fear. Students told the committee that they were threatened with harassment for complaining, warned that their identity cards would be confiscated, threatened with being barred from exams, told they would get poor marks in practicals-and, in one shocking incident, even the District Chief Medical and Health Officer was made to wait for two hours at the campus gate.

It said the committee found that student dissatisfaction mounted steadily, while the management ignored warnings. As the situation worsened, the administration called the police at 2 am.

The Under Secretary, Viran Singh Bhalavi, in the notice, warned that the government would take unilateral action if the university fails to provide a proper explanation.

The crisis began with the reported assault of a student by the hostel staff after complaints of contaminated water and food, which was followed by unprecedented chaos.

On November 25, approximately 4,000 students rallied and protested.

In a matter of minutes, there were burning buses and vehicles, a vandalised ambulance, shattered windscreens, and fire all over the parking lot.

It took police forces from five stations to bring the situation under control. The university has since been shut until December 8 and most students have returned home.

Earlier, the PHE Department collected 18 water samples. Four tested positive for harmful bacteria, including E coli. PHE official Pradeep Saxena confirmed contamination in water taken from tube wells, ground-level tanks and RO systems.

The Food and Drug Administration collected 25 food samples from the hostel mess - pulses, rice, oil, flour, semolina, and more.

Among the most shocking of the revelations was that 11 campus blocks were functioning without fire NOCs, therefore exposing thousands of students to grave risk. The management's omissions directly led to this crisis. The investigation team, comprising Hamidia College Principal Dr Anil Shivani, MVM College Professor Sanjay Dixit, and GMC Professor Dr Lokendra Dave, concluded that this entire chain of events had been the result of deep-rooted administrative failure.