Mumbai: Lawyers of the Mumbai High Court, led by senior advocate Rafique Dada, all alumni of the Government Law College at Church Gate, have written a letter to the Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar lamenting the neglect of the premier law institution by the State Government.

Mentioning that it was a "shocking state of affairs," a division bench of the Chief Justice and Justice J P Devadhar converted the letter into a suo motu PIL and on Friday asked the state public service commission (MPSC) secretary to appear in the court on January 12, 2008 to explain why vacant faculty posts had not been filled up.

"The apathy and deliberate inaction on the part of the State Government has resulted in our alma mater, a premier outstanding institute of law, being brought to a state which has led to a breakdown in the education system," said the letter signed by Dada and others advocates.

The Government Law College, established in the 1850s, has had an illustrious history with students including freedom fighter Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, M.C. Chagla, and Jurist N A Palkhiwala etc.

The full time lecturer post has been vacant at GLC since 1998, while the last appointment on temporary posts were made in 1985, said the letter.

The five year law course has been affected as there has been no appointment to the posts of three lecturers for Political Science, History and English. The registrars as well as librarian's post have also not been filled, since 2000 and 1993 respectively.

"On the account of the temporary nature of the lecturer's post, fully qualified lecturers have left and joined the private colleges," said the letter adding that workload falls entirely on the seven existing lecturers, "which militates against the imparting of good education and shows gross neglect on the part of the state."