A legal fight is brewing between the Higher Education Transformation Network and the Council for Higher Education (CHE) over the de-accreditation of Walter Sisulu University's law degree.

The network filed a lawsuit in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday to interdict the council from implementing the decision it took against the university in November. The Law Society has been cited as a respondent in the matter.

According to the council, a review of LLB degree programmes was conducted across the 17 universities offering them. The council identified a number of shortcomings in the institutions.

In April, the council called "for the submission of improvement plans" and, "following the evaluation of the improvement plans", Walter Sisulu's accreditation was withdrawn.

The council said: "This means that the institution cannot offer the programme any more, and will have to reapply for accreditation from scratch with a new submission."

In court papers, network chairman Reginald Legoabe said there was urgency in the application because of the "looming commencement of the 2018 academic year and the looming abrogation of the constitutionally enshrined rights to education of poor rural students in the Eastern Cape province to access the legal profession".

Legoabe asked the court to set aside the council's decision and order it, with the Law Society, to "institute a fair, inclusive and transparent accreditation process for the [university's] LLB degree programme" at its Mthatha campus.