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The Upcoming entrance examination for LLB students seeking admission to the Ghana Law School could be stopped with a court injunction should the General Legal Council of the Judicial Service fail to consider a petition sent to them.

Despite a petition to the Council by a group made up of law degree holders calling themselves Concerned LLB Graduates that seeks to call for automatic admission to the Ghana Law School by scraping this year’s entrance examination, the paper gathered that preparation for the examination was on course.

Information gathered by the paper suggested that the Concerned LLB Graduates could head to court to put injunction on the examination which is slated for Friday, July 14.

One of the LLB graduates told the paper in an interview that organising the exam would amount to an illegality after the Supreme Court judgment on the matter.

“It means that if they do not do anything about it, we may go to court to put an injunction on the exam. We had insider information that they are meeting on it today and we might get a feedback based on the outcome of it.”

Index numbers out

The DAILY HERITAGE can confirm that the Ghana Law School has released the index numbers of 1,421 LLB students expected to take the exam next Friday.

The entrance exam list for October admission pasted on the Ghana Law School noticeboard is signed by the Registrar of the Ghana Law School.

The story

The spokesperson for the Concerned LLB Graduates, Naomi Nana Sam, last week said at a media briefing that they would not be deprived of their legitimate right through an illegal process.

“We hereby petition the General Legal Council for a pronouncement on an indication regarding the decision already referred to, to grant us automatic admission to the Ghana School of Law. That your humble petitioners feeling aggrieved by some pronouncements of the Supreme Court in the Asare case thus seek the intervention of the General Legal Council as to the way forward.

“We make an order in terms of relief one of the writs of summons that the General Legal Council’s imposition of an entrance examination and an interview requirement for the professional law course violates Articles 11(7), 297 (d), 23, 296(a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution,” Naomi added.

Supreme Court verdict

A seven-member Supreme Court panel has ruled as unconstitutional the requirement by the General Legal Council that compels applicants to the Ghana Law School to undertake an examination and subsequent interview before admission.

The court, in a case brought before it by Professor Kwaku Asare, a United States-based Ghanaian lawyer, in 2015, said the requirements were in violation of the Legislative Instrument 1296 which gives direction for the mode of admission.

One of the petitioners, Godfred Tessu, said “we know that the constitution is supreme and as such, the Supreme Court has indicated that the exam and the interview are unconstitutional.”

“I believe that all the stakeholders are aware that we cannot go against the constitution per article 1(2) of the constitution. Anything that is not in agreement with the constitution is void from the start.

“Notwithstanding that, we believe that there are other avenues that are open to us by going to court and asking for a review and also placing an injunction on the exam. That is also our constitutional right that we can pursue,” he added.