Hyderabad: Senior Supreme Court lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Menaka Guruswamy on Saturday termed it “shameful and unacceptable” that Bar Council of India (BCI) chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra had not faced an election in over a decade.“Manan Kumar Mishra is an unelected entity heading the BCI. He has not faced an election in over a decade. It is a shame. It is shameful and unacceptable,” Guruswamy told STOI after delivering a talk on ‘Indian Constitution and its Protection’ at the S Jaipal Reddy Memorial Foundation in Khairatabad. She was joined by NALSAR vice-chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao.Guruswamy said Bar Councils must introspect on their role and work towards earning the respect of their members. “When a Bar Council does not earn the respect of its members, it is not a good sign for the legal profession,” she added.Her remarks came against the backdrop of the BCI’s recent action against NALSAR’s graduating batch of 2026, which led to a confrontation with students and drew scrutiny from the Supreme Court. On Aug 13, the BCI directed state Bar Councils not to enrol NALSAR’s 2026 graduates as advocates. The action followed a controversy over a student campaign opposing the invitation to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant as the chief guest at the university’s convocation.The BCI later withdrew the enrolment freeze and closed the proceedings against the batch. Mishra subsequently apologised to the students. However, the apology did little to quell the criticism.Meanwhile, Guruswamy also spoke about police action against students at Jantar Mantar in July, challenges facing higher education and the proposed Delimitation Amendment Bill, 2026. “The proposed Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill has raised concerns about centralisation, institutional autonomy and the future of state universities. The Bill seeks to replace the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education and the National Council for Teacher Education with a single regulatory framework,” she said.Guruswamy also flagged concerns over the “brownfield” model, under which existing public institutions could be converted into private universities. “Such a shift could affect access to higher education if institutions begin charging private-sector fees,” she added.Guruswamy further said the decline in parliamentary debate was a matter of serious concern. “Unlike the Constituent Assembly, where dissent and alternative interpretations were recorded in detail, criticism today is often treated as obstruction,” she said.
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