The Delhi High Court, while adjudicating a petition filed by two law students from the Faculty of Law, Delhi University, has directed the District Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) Committee responsible for selecting Para-Legal Volunteers (PLVs) to conclude the selection procedure at the earliest in accordance with extant rules and regulations. The petitioners sought their induction as PLVs and challenged a communication issued by the DSLSA on April 21 regarding the PLV training programme, additionally requesting time-bound training for provisionally selected students and the formulation of uniform, transparent guidelines for the induction and functioning of PLVs.
The petitioners, appearing in person, contended that the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Scheme for Para-Legal Volunteers, read with Regulation 5(4) of the NALSA (Legal Aid Clinics) Regulations, 2011, provides for the induction of law students as PLVs. They submitted that the Legal Aid Societies of Campus Law Centre and Law Centre-II, along with Delhi University, had conducted a selection process in September 2025, following which a list of selected candidates was forwarded to the DSLSA on October 28, 2025. They asserted that despite more than 600 PLV vacancies existing with the DSLSA, second and third-year law students were not recruited as PLVs.
The Court was informed that after the list of selected students was forwarded, the DSLSA had indicated plans to organise a valedictory function around November 21 to 23, 2025 to initiate the training schedule. However, the programme was subsequently put on hold. Counsel appearing for the DSLSA referred to the NALSA Scheme for Para-Legal Volunteers (Revised), which permits selection of PLVs from multiple categories, including teachers, retired government servants, senior citizens, social work students and teachers, doctors, students and law students, members of NGOs, and other persons deemed suitable by the District Legal Services Authority or Taluk Legal Services Committee.
The Court, upon perusing the NALSA Scheme, observed that it provides for approximately ten streams from which PLVs can be selected, with 'Students & Law Students (till they enroll as lawyers)' constituting only one of the feeder cadres. It further noted that the Scheme does not prescribe any fixed proportion for the selection of PLVs from any particular stream.