Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has emphasized to sensitize law students about social, economic and political realities of the country and world.

“While a law degree does enable a person to enroll as an advocate, the curriculum must also take into consideration the broader mandates of sensitizing students about social, economic and political realities. Legal education must promote a strong interdisciplinary agenda; disciplines such as Political Science, Sociology, Economics, Literature and Philosophy enrich our understanding of the evolution of the laws and helps us engineer reforms for the future”, Justice Balakrishanan said in valedictory function of National Moot Court Competition at Amity Law School, Noida.
Justice Balakrishnan also said t that best talents are not coming in the field of legal education as more lucrative career options are available these days for a law graduate.

“We should devise methods to attract some of the best talent to the teaching line, after all any law college needs highly qualified and motivated faculty members to train the students in the careers in the bar and the judiciary…”, He said.

National Law University, Jodhpur won the Rolling Trophy and cash prize. NALSAR, Hyderabad emerged as Runner-Up team. The Best Memorial Award went to the team of NALSAR, Hyderabad. Niharika from NALSAR, Hyderabad was declared the Best Speaker. Best Researcher Award was lifted by Prabhat Kumar from NALSAR, Hyderabad

The semi-finals of the Moot Court were contested between four teams NALSAR, Hyderabad; IIT , Khadagpur; Gandhinagar National Law College and National Law College, Jodhpur out of which NALSAR, Hyderabad.

Noted lawyer and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Arun Jaitley and Chancellor of the Amity University Ashok K. Chauhan were also present on the occasion and shared their views.
Over 28 colleges and institutes across India participated in the competition including NALSAR, Hyderabad ; Government Law College, Mumbai; NLIU, Bhopal; University Law College, Bangalore and GGSIP University.

Amity Law School is organizing Amity National Moot Court Competition on Friday March 05 at Amity University, Noida. The focus of the competition will be on the issues relating to “Intellectual Property Law/Constitutional Law and Administrative Law”.

Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Law & Justice and Justice Arijit Pasayat, Chairman, Competition Appellate Tribunal will inaugurate the function. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity will also address on the occasion. Students of over 28 colleges and institutes across India are participating in the competition including NALSAR, Hyderabad ; Government Law College, Mumbai; NLIU, Bhopal; University Law College, Bangalore and GGSIP University are participating in the competition.

Bar Council of India’s meeting on the provision of mandatory test for advocates for enrollment and to start practice in the court and entry on foreign lawyers remained inconclusive as the members could not reach to final conclusion despite long debate last evening.

There are over 9.5 lakh lawyers enrolled with Bar Councils at present and several thousand fresh law graduates are in the queue of enrollment to start their practice. According to sources the some of the members had the view that there should be no such provision of mandatory test, as suggested by the government. They had the view that the if the candidate is not competent he will be automatically shunted during his professional career. While a section of the BCI’s members had different view and they wanted to go ahead with the government’s plan, said sources. However, the decision will be taken in this regard after next meeting, they said.

The HRD Minister Kapil Sibbal has declared today during the 10th Editors’ conference in Delhi that all deemed universities will be abolished. On the side management of the listed 44 institutions (for de-recognition in affidavit, filed in the Supreme Court) is trying to convince their students that they will handle all as it is mere politics.
Noida based Jaypee Institute of Information Technology (JIIT) has communicated its students that they need not to worry and the management will manage all such ‘hurdles’. “This is mere a politics, we were told”, told a student of JIIT to fachcha.com. The same kind of assurance has been given by the management of Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad to its students.
“It is a policy decision that all the deemed universities will finally go”, said HRD Minister Kapil Sibal interacting with media. He also said that technically HRD Ministry has not de-recognised any of the institutions and approached to the Apex Court for the purpose.
It is notable that the HRD Ministry has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court to derecognized 44 deemed universities. Some of these include:
• National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology, Delhi
• Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad
• Lingaya’s University, Faridabad
• Gurukul Kangdi Vishvavidyalaya, Haridwar
• Chirst College, Bangalore
• Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida
• Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kanyakumari
• Vignan’s Foundation for Science Technology and Research, Guntur
• St. Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
• Shobit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut,
• Surnandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara
• S D Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar
• Yenepoya University, Manglore
• BLDE University, Bijapur
• HIHT University, Dehradun
• Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara
• D Y Patil Medical College, Kolhapur

After the government announcement about its intention for the mandatory qualifying test to get membership of the Bar Council and start practice in the court, debate has started about the requirement of such announcement. On the other hand Bar Council of India is going to convene the meeting this week in this regard.

“The Bar Council of India will look into the issue very soon. We are going to convene a meeting in this regard on 20th this month”, BCI’s Chairman and senior advocate Suraj Narain Prasad Sinha told fachcha.com over phone. It is yet to see what has been proposed by the government in this regard, he said. According to him the agenda of the meeting will be – proposal of mandatory qualifying test to get membership of Bar Council and entry of foreign lawyers in India.

Other members and students have different views in this regard but they say that there should be some mechanism to stop LL.B. shops. The BCI will look into it but there is need of quality legal education in the country, says Ram Avtar Gupta, Vice-Chairman of Executive Committee, BCI.

Ayaz Ahmed, a first year LL.M. student of Faculty of Law, Delhi University, says that LL.B. degree is easily available in the country. “A UGC-NET type exam will help to maintain quality of legal education in this regard”, Ayaz told fachcha.com.

However, Raman an LL.B. student of Meerut College, Meerut says that it is just a way to facilitate students of some of the best universities. There are already several examinations like judicial services examination, Supreme Court examinations and others to get entry into this profession. Another exam will just increase the burden of students and nothing else. Though Shalini Singh, an LL.B. student of Law Centre-I, Delhi University says that this should be taken as a positive step as it will help to promote quality education.