Government has planned to open National Law University in every state. Releasing vision paper on Law Education during a national conference in New Delhi regarding reforms in legal education Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Saturday that the plan will be implemented during second round of reforms. There is a need to improve quality of education in the legal field apart from expansion, he said.

There is plan to open online library at every district to keep legal professionals and students abreast of all kind of developments in legal world.

Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia has been appointed the new Chief Justice of India. Justice Kapadia, currently a Supreme Court Judge, has been appointed by President of India Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. He will be Chief Justice of India with effect from 12th May 2010. Born on 29th September 1947, Justice Kapadia started his career as a lawyer at Bombay High Court. He became Chief Justice of Uttranchal High Court in August 2003 and later on elevated to the bench of Supreme Court in December 2003.

NHRC today criticized Maharashtra Government for not taking timely action for protection of citizens in the wake of hate campaign initiated by MNS against migrants and recommended to pay rupees five lakhs to each to next kin of two victims, who lost their lives during the campaign.
Taking suo motu action NHRC issued notice on the 18th February, 2008 to the Chief Secretary, Maharashtra Government calling for factual report about the incidents violence. Later on, the Commission also received complaints on the same issue of violence by MNS activists against non Maharashtrians from Amar Singh, Member of Parliament and others.
The Commission on the 8th February, 2010 re-iterated its observations in its proceedings dated the 16th November, 2009 that “a campaign for hatred had been launched against non-Maharashtrians in the region and it was the constitutional duty of the State Government to safeguard the lives of the migrant people. It is unfortunate that the State Government did not muster the political will to rein in the divisive forces and failed to take timely action for the protection of citizens. The persons who lost their life were poor labourers. Their families have lost bread earners and the Government cannot evade its liability to give appropriate relief on the ground of financial constraints.”
NHRC has given eight weeks time for compliance of the order.

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.

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.

Prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is now available for legal studies too. Those who are interested in LL.B. degree may apply to IIT for the same. However, the programme is not available for the graduate of arts and commerce stream. Only engineers, doctors or post-graduate in science and pharmacy and management graduates will be eligible for the course.

The three year LL.B. (Hons.) course will be available at the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property law at IIT, Kharagpur. It will be a fully residential programme with specialization in Intellectual Property Law (IPR). Only those candidates who have completed their degree with first class will be eligible for entrance test. Last date for the submission of the form is 22 January for the course. Entrance exam will be organized on 21st march. Interested candidate may visit www.rgsoipl.iitkgp.ernet.in for details.