Thupili Raveendra Babu V. The Competition Commission of India(Competition Appeal No. 09/2021 (Nclat-8Th November, 2021)

Abstract

The appellant in the present case took voluntary retirement from his government job (CPWD) after serving for 29 years. It was presented to the court that as he always wanted to pursue law, thus post-retirement he appeared for 3-year LL.B. entrance exam in Andhra Pradesh(APLAWCET) in 2020, where he secured rank 1 in the examination. Later on, the appellant came to know about the restriction put up by the Bar Council of India (BCI) under Clause 28 of Schedule 3 of Part IV of Rules of Legal Education 2008. As per the law, it restricted the entry of new entrants to pursue legal education if they have attained the age of 30, thereby impacting competition in the profession. It was contended by the Appellant that BCI has abused its dominant position as the regulator of the legal education in India to put up this unreasonable restriction to entry and thus in violation of section 4 of Competition Act.