LAHORE, July 22: The Punjab University Law College will launch a five-year BA LLB (Honours) programme from September for intermediate certificate holders. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Governor Khalid Maqbool here at the Governor’s House on Friday. The Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, and Islamia University, Bahawalpur, would introduce the programme the next year.

Forty candidates would be admitted to the first batch of the five-year programme after entrance test. It would comprise 10 semesters. More focus would be on practical knowledge.

The governor directed the authorities concerned to improve the quality of syllabus of the existing three year LLB programme.

He approved the launch of a post-graduate diploma in banking law in the PU Law College.

English language as the only medium for law examinations would also be introduced almost throughout the province, the meeting decided.

The existing pattern in which one has choice to take examination either in English or Urdu was being eliminated to improve the quality of law education.

Official sources told Dawn that the changes were made on the recommendations of a five-member committee headed by vice-chancellor Arshad Mahmood constituted by the governor last month.

The committee also suggested practical trainings like court visits, law moots, trial advocacy, communication skills, computer skills, opinion writing, judgment writing, office management, negotiation and client dealing in the universities constituent and affiliated colleges.

Improvements in physical infrastructure like library, classrooms, offices and sports facilities and special focus on advance legal studies like PhD, LLM, LLB (Hons), postgraduate diplomas, seminars and conferences and research and publications had also been recommended.

It also proposed that there should not be more than 50 students in a class in the constituent colleges.

PRIVATE LAW COLLEGES: The governor constituted a committee to inspect the performance of the private law colleges.