Jorhat, May 23: Students of the Centre for Juridical Studies under Dibrugarh University can heave a sigh of relief with a Bar Council of India (BCI) team from New Delhi giving the green signal for reaffiliation to the council following an inspection on Tuesday.

Dibrugarh University vice-chancellor K.K. Deka said the three-member team, headed by Apurba Kumar Sharma, chairman, executive committee, BCI, had expressed satisfaction over infrastructure, facilities and staff of the centre.

The other two members of the team were Dinesh Pathak, vice-chairman of executive committee, BCI and vice-chancellor of the National Law University and Judicial Academy, Guwahati, Gurjeet Singh.

“We are yet to get a formal letter of affiliation but the three members have given us the go-ahead for new admissions as we fulfilled the conditions set by them in 2010,” Deka said.

The affiliation to the BCI will enable the law graduates to get a bar licence to practise law.

The centre which was set up in 2006 imparts education for a five-year integrated law degree. It also has started an LLM course from last year.

The next batch will be admitted in July.

The BCI had given affiliation till 2010 and had asked the university to appoint a director or principal and also a professor or associate professor in the centre, among others.

“We have fulfilled this criteria and the members have expressed satisfaction after a thorough inspection on Tuesday. The members have also asked the university to give them a proposal for another section as we have many classrooms in the building,” Deka said.

S.S. Mahapatro from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, has joined as an associate professor and B.L. Sharma, former labour commissioner, Assam, has joined as permanent director.

The university was not getting efficient persons for the posts and had to advertise four times before the appointments were made.

Deka said that when permission was granted for another section, then the Centre would have two 60-seat classrooms for five years. At present the student strength is 300.

Besides classrooms, the centre has a well-stocked library, conference hall and mock courtroom area.

Deka said that with the BCI team giving them positive signals, the university could now go ahead with advertisement for admission to the next session.

“Parents had expressed apprehension over the withdrawal of affiliation and now we can allay their fears,” he said.

Regarding the future of students in the two years during which the centre was not affiliated to the BCI, Deka said that there was a provision for the council to give affiliation with retrospective effect.

The deputy registrar, administration, Dibrugarh University, P. Sonowal, said the university would also start a PhD programme in law from August.