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Judicial Inroads into Arbitration | Justice V Ramasubramanian
March 6th, 2018
NALSAR
Justice Ramasubramanian enrolled as a member of the bar in 1983 and practised under senior advocates K Sarvabhauman and T R Mani. He was appointed as the additional judge of Madras High Court in 2006. He is currently serving as the senior-most puisne judge at the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh High Court. He is unanimously revered by all members of the legal fraternity and has been on the bench for various landmark judgements of the High Court. He has penned numerous articles for prominent newspapers like The Hindu, and has extensively analysed foreign jurisprudence and their application in the Indian context. He created history when as a part of a division bench, he conducted hearing over a session of Skype. His judgements portray a wave of judicial activism, reading the law beyond its black-letter to effectuate the tall claims of justice and fairness.
At NALSAR, Justice Ramasubramanian would be talking on the topic of judicial interventions in arbitration. The Indian law in this context is derived from Section 5 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 that defines that the scope of judicial intervention and enumerates that no judicial authority shall intervene except where so provided by the Act. Section 34 of the act provides for the circumstances in which an arbitral award can be set aside by the court. Beyond statute, even at an abstract level, the topic posits a solemn philosophical inquiry concerning the permissible extent to which the judiciary can makes its way into an out-of-court process of dispute resolution.
Mr. Ramasubramanian’s lecture will be of great benefit to the students of Justice City in understanding the context of and varied views on courtroom intervention.
For further queries, email us at nyaya@nalsar.ac.in(link sends e-mail).
Mr. Dushyant Dave (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India) spoke about judicial appointments as part of the ‘NALSAR Lecture Series on Constitutionalism’.
Topic: Independence of Judiciary and Judicial appointments’
Time: 11 am – 12:30 pm
Venue: M.K. Nambyar SAARCLAW Centre (Video-Conferencing Hall).
Dr Rammanohar Reddy (former Editor, Economic and Political Weekly, and currently Readers’ Editor, scroll.in will be visiting campus on Monday, 17 April, 4:30 pm to speak about demonetization.
Dr Reddy has also recently published a book titled “Demonetization and Black Money”. The publisher, Orient Blackswan
The SC/ST cell has invited Prof. K. Satyanarayana who is presently a professor in the Department of cultural studies at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He will be speaking at 5 pm today to mark Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. The talk will be held in the first year section b classroom.
The nyaya forum has invited Mr. Dayan Krishnan, a senior advocate at the Delhi High court. He will be speaking about his involvement in extradition litigation at 11:30 am in the first year classroom.
Dear all,
The TLF will be hosting an informal lecture by Prashant Reddy at 5.30 PM on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at the Jhunjhunwala Hall titled A Historical Perspective of the DU Photocopy Case.
Prashant Reddy is an author of Create, Copy, Disrupt: India’s Intellectual Property Dilemmas(link is external), and has done extensive work in IP law both as an academic and as a practitioner. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Singapore Management University’s School of Law.
Prashant will be discussing the historical narrative behind India’s copyright regime, specifically in the context of course packs and educational use exceptions – subjects of the recently concluded litigation between OUP, CUP, etc. and the University of Delhi.
His talk will be loosely based on Chapter 5 of his book, and we will make copies of the chapter available at the talk. Please click hereto RSVP on our Facebook event page so that we can accurately estimate the number of photocopies required.
The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session, and refreshments will be provided.
Prashant has written extensively for SpicyIP
Dear All,
The Public Policy Group is pleased to announce a discussion by Harsh Mander on the title India’s Troubled Times.
Mr. Mander is an activist who works for survivors of mass violence and hunger. He formerly served in the National Advisory Council and is the Director of the Centre for Equity Studies and a Special Commissioner to the Supreme Court of India in the Right to Food case. He is associated with various social causes and movements, and writes and speaks regularly on issues of communal harmony, tribal, dalit and disabled persons’ rights, the right to information, custodial justice, homelessness and bonded labour.
The lecture will be held on Monday 27th March, 2017 at 4:20 pm in the SAARC Law Centre. It will be followed by a Q & A Session after the talk.
On March 25, 2017 (Saturday, 11:30 AM – 1 PM) we will be hosting a discussion based on a book titled ‘Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India’ which has been authored by Dr. Anuj Bhuwania and recently published by the Cambridge University Press.
http://www.cambridgeindia.org/Academic/subjects/Sociology/Courting-the-People?ISBN=9781107147454
Anuj is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the South Asian University, New Delhi. He holds a B.A., LL.B. from the National Law School, Bangalore and a LL.M. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. This book is based on his Ph.D thesis which was submitted to the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University, New York.
We have invited Ms. Vasudha Nagaraj, a well-known Hyderabad based advocate, to respond to the book.
The venue for this book discussion will be the R.N. Jhunjhunwala Hall inside the NALSAR campus.
Dear All,
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the TechLawForum@NALSAR(link sends e-mail)‘s second Lecture in this Academic Year with Samiran Gupta, the Head of India for ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), on ‘Understanding the Multistakeholder Model for Internet Governance‘, this week. The details of the event are in the attached poster, and the Facebook event is available here
Samiran Gupta had previously worked for APCO Worldwide, during which time he had simultaneously become part of the Asia Pacific Stakeholder team at ICANN. As the Head of India for ICANN since 2014, he has spearheaded India’s efforts towards the transition of ICANN from NTIA/U.S Department of Commerce towards the stakeholder community. Samiran is a veteran in business and public affairs strategy and has done extensive work in the fields of telecom, entertainment, payment systems, social media and e-commerce.
The lecture will take place on Tuesday the 21st, at 4:15 PM in Jhunjhunwala Hall.
MHRD IPR CHAIR
& N.C.BANERJEE CENTRE FOR IPR STUDIES
NALSAR UNIVERSITY OF LAW, HYDERABAD
ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON
IP ISSUES IN COMPUTER RELATED INVENTIONS
(18 MARCH, 2017)
VENUE: VIDEO CONFERENCE HALL, SAARC LAW CENTRE,
NALSAR UNIVERSITY OF LAW, JUSTICE CITY,
SHAMEERPET, HYDERABAD – 500101
PRGRAMME SCHEDULE .
S.NO
TIME
THEME
SPEAKER
9.45-10.15
REGISTRATION
10.25-11.00
INAUGURAL
10.25-10.40
10.40-10.55
10.55-11.00
WELCOME & ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
ADDRESS BY CHIEF GUEST
VOTE OF THANKS
PROF.V.C.VIVEKANANDAN,
MHRD IP CHAIR PROFESSOR
NALSAR UNIVERSITY
HON’BLE JUSTICE
MR. MADAN B. LOKUR,
JUDGE, SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
PROF.FAIZAN MUSTAFA,
VICE CHANCELLOR,
NALSAR UNIVERSITY OF LAW
11.00-11.30
TEA BREAK
1.
11.30-12.45
THEME: COMPUTER RELATED INVENTIONS – THE WISH LIST
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND IP POLICIES AS INCENTIVES FOR INNOVATION IN THE ICT SECTOR – CURRENT INTIATIVES AND ROAD MAP
COMPUTER RELATED INVENTIONS- GUIDELINES OF PATENT OFFICE & DO’S AND DON’T’S FOR CRI PATENTS
CHAIR:
DR. ANINDYA SIRCAR,
SENIOR IP CONSULTANT
SPEAKERS:
DR. A K GARG,
OFFICER IN CHARGE, IC DIVISION DIRECTOR, INNOVATION AND IPR,
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND IT, GOVT. OF INDIA
MR. T V MADHUSUDHAN, DEPUTY CONTROLLER OF PATENTS & DESIGNS,
PATENT OFFICE, IPO, CHENNAI
12.45-1.45
LUNCH
About the Speaker- Justice K. Kannan is a former judge, High Court of Punjab & Haryana, Chandigarh and at High Court of Madras. He was elevated as a judge in 2008. He has authored and edited several books on law from 2002. A trained mediator, Justice Kannan blogged for a while with a reasonable public following before dropping out due to professional compulsions. His principled public declaration of assets as the first judge in India brought a new paradigm for the entire judiciary to follow, and the weekly India Today named him among twenty heroes of 2009. He retired from judgeship in June 2016. Presently he is the Chairman of Railway Claims Tribunal at its Principal Bench at New Delhi.
Guest Talk by Dr. Anup Surendranath on ‘Re-imagining Constitutional Questions on the Death Penalty
Happy to welcome you all for our 8th, and the final lecture of the semester. Dr. Anup Surendranath’s (NALSAR alumni) on-ground work as part of the ‘Centre on the Death Penalty’ at NLU Delhi (which he heads) has been unprecedented. The Centre was preceded by the Death Penalty Research Project which has lead to a much broader engagement on the death penalty.
The Centre is now involved in representing 60 prisoners on death row across India, alongwith carrying an extensive mental health project in the context of the death penalty, in collaboration with senior psychiatrists from NIMHANS, Bangalore. They have also intitated a detailed sentencing project that looks at death penalty sentencing in trials courts over the last 15 years in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi. Another leg of work includes a judges opinion study among all former judges of the Supreme Court on the state of the criminal justice system.
If and when the death penalty goes out of the statute books in India, his work in the field (culminating into the two reports on the topic) and the LCI’s 262nd report will be the major contributing factors.
Dr. Anup Surendranath will deliver the lecture on ‘Re-imagining Constitutional Questions on the Death Penalty’ as part of the NALSAR Lecture Series on Constitutionalism.
Do join us at SAARC Law at 5 pm on March 7 (Tuesday) to meet the man himself.
About the Speaker- Justice Mukul Mudgal started his practice as an advocate in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court in 1973. In 1998, he was appointed as a Judge in the Delhi High Court. He then went on to become the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2009, after which he retired in 2011. Currently, he is a member of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Geneva. His lecture would be of immense interest to those who are caught mingling interests in academics and extra-curricular activities; and could provide them to come up with a proper balance in their lives.
It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the TechLawForum@NALSAR(link sends e-mail)‘s first Lecture in this Academic Year with Apar Gupta, Raman Jit Singh Chima, and Kiran Jonnalagadda of the Internet Freedom Foundation, on ‘The State of Tech Policy and Advocacy in India‘, this weekend. The details of the event are in the attached poster, and the Facebook event is available here
Apar Gupta is an independent advocate in Delhi, Raman Jit Singh Chima is a Policy Director with Access Now and Kiran Jonnalagadda(link is external) is a programmer and the founder of HasGeek(link is external). They are stalwarts of the Indian technology law and policy field and represent the best of the combination of niches – a litigator, a policy advocate, and an engineer. All the three are co-founders of the IFF, which was born out of the massively popular ‘savetheinternet.in(link is external)‘ campaign that ran the Network Neutrality platform with TRAI’s consultations last year.
The lecture will take place on Saturday the 18th, at 11:00 AM in Jhunjhunwala Hall.
Talk on Corporate Finance by Mr Ashish Patil (Nalanda Capital) on February 4, 2017
We will be hosting a talk by Mr. Ashish Patil (currently with Nalanda Capital in Singapore) on February 4, 2017 (Saturday). This talk will present a practitioner’s perspective on corporate finance and is aimed at both the management and law students.
The talk will be held in the 1st year Section A classroom from 11 AM – 1:30 PM on Saturday.
I would request those interested in this subject to attend. Mr. Patil has agreed to come all the way from Singapore on his own cost to visit NALSAR.
Human Rights and Courts | Talk by Dr. Colin Gonsalves Video recording
As part of this year’s lecture series on constitutionalism, Mr. Arvind Datar (Senior Advocate) spoke at Nalsar tomorrow, that is January 21, 2017 (Saturday) at 12 noon in the saarclaw centre. The topic is ‘The Constitution, Federalism and GST’.
Mr. Datar is among the best known lawyers in India today. In his practice, he specializes in matters pertaining to indirect taxes and company law. He has authored books on the law of central excise, a commentary on the Indian constitution and a biography of Nani Palkivala.
Link to acesses the recorded talk is
We hosted a public talk by Yogendra Yadav (well known election analyst and activist) on January 17, 2017 at 11:30 am in the saarclaw centre. Please find the link for acessing the lecture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AUwcloZd60&t=587s
CONFESSIONS OF AN ACCIDENTAL LAWYER(link is external)
A Talk by Dr. Aditya Sondhi
Senior Advocate and Additional Advocate-General (State of Karnataka)
High Court of Karnataka, Bangalore
Visiting Faculty, NLSIU Bangalore
Saturday, 15 October 2016, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m
M.K. Nambyar SAARC Law Centre
Dr. Sondhi graduated from NLSIU Bangalore in 1998, and made a humble beginning into the world of litigation. His hard work paid dividends when he was designated a Senior Advocate at Karnataka High Court in 2014. He is among the first few NLS graduates to be designated as a Senior. He has recently been appointed as an Additional Advocate-General of Karnataka State. Apart from his courtroom avatar, he is also a Visiting Professor at his alma mater, NLS and teaches Constitutional Law, Company Law, Professional Ethics and Arbitration.
The lecture shall also be followed by a Q&A session.
NALSAR Lecture Series on Constitutionalism has conducted a panel discussion on ‘Public Law and Access to Places of Worship – From Narasu Appa Mali to Haji Ali .
We had an amazing panel of Prof. Gerard Quinn, Prof. Faizan Mustafa, Dr. Kannan, Dr. Archana Parashar, and Dr. Vijaya Nagarajan, and . Further, Prof. Amita Dhanda would be moderating the discussion. The discussion was of great academic relevance to us especially in the aftermath of the Bombay High Court’s decision holding the ban on entry of women to the sanctum sanctorum of the the Haji Ali Dargah, as unconstitutional. Interestingly, decades earlier the same High Court had held fundamental rights to be subservient to personal law.
Please watch the recording of this panel discussion as it happened by clicking the link below
We invite you to a panel discussion we are having around the issue of consent in human relationships especially human sexual relationships. The discussion aims to own our educational duties outside the classroom. We know it is a holiday but your presence at this event would greatly help in the future work we need to do in the field. If you could indicate your attendance preference on the events page it would help us decide the appropriate venue for the event. At present we plan to hold this panel on ” What Consent Means Understanding Consent 101″ featuring Archana Parashar,Jugal Modi, Paromita Vohra and Vijaya Nagaraja from 5.30 pm at SAARC Law Centre. For more details on the panel see https://www.facebook.com/events/1031420743622675/
As this Event is completed , you can acesses video recording of this panel discussion by clikcing the below link
On September 27, 2016 (Tuesday), we will be hosting Mr. V.S. Sundaresan who is the Chief General Manager of the Investigations Department in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in Mumbai. He will be making a presentation on the regulatory framework created by the SEBI Takeover Regulations, followed by a discussion based on a case study.
The talk will be held in the SAARCLaw Centre between 2 pm – 4 pm this Tuesday. This is to request interested faculty members and students to attend this discussion.
This is to cordially invite you to the first edition of the NALSAR Student Bar Debate, a union Debate which seeks to hear some of the most eminent minds of the country speaking on the most pertinent issues of the day. This edition seeks to debate the politicization of university campuses through the motion – “This house will ban all organised political activity on Indian campuses.”
In light of the recent protests and political activity in college campuses from Delhi to Hyderabad, civil society is fragmented on the extent, and the very existence of organized political movement in university campuses. The centrist views of hierarchical structures, without mainstream political parties, have also been called into question. This year, we seek to understand the dynamic equilibrium that persists, and whether it should exist at all.
The speakers at the bar debate will provide insights into the motion like never before. Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed, educator, film-maker, and media person and Mr. Adithya Reddy, eminent lawyer, and freelance journalist will be joined by a student speaker as they propose this motion. Opposing the motion would be Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Cabinet minister, journalist and writer; Mr. AK Khan, current ACB Chief of Telangana and Prof. Hargopal, ICSSR National Fellow with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. The debate will seek to dissect the issue on socio-legal, economic, political and pedagogical parameters.
We invite you to a Friday night, filled with intellectual stimulation and an opportunity to be part of the discussion as the august audience of a Bar Debate.
Date – 23rd September, 2016
Time – 6:00 PM Onwards
As part of the Lecture Series on Constitutionalism, we will be hosting Justice (Retd.) Ruma Pal for a talk on September 8, 2016 (Thursday). The discussion will be centered on Article 44 of the Constitution which contemplates the creation of a Uniform Civil Code. The talk is scheduled during the 11:30 AM – 1 PM slot at the SAARCLAW Centre.
Justice Pal had started legal practice at the Calcutta High Court and subsequently joined the bench. She served on the Supreme Court between 1999-2006 and is widely considered to be among the best justices in the post-independence era. Justice Pal has recently revised M.P. Jain’s commentary on the Indian Constitution and frequently contributes to journalistic and academic publications.
Policy Lecture Series
Speaker: Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Title: ‘Media ethics and Democracy’
When: Saturday, i.e. August 13, 2016 (Saturday) between 11:30 AM – 1 PM.
Venue: SAARCLAW Centre
As part of the Policy Lecture Series, Mr. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta will be delivering a lecture on ‘Media ethics and Democracy’ this Saturday, i.e. August 13, 2016 (Saturday) between 11:30 AM – 1 PM. The venue for the same will be the SAARCLAW Centre.
Mr. Thakurta is currently the editor of the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). He had studied at St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi and the Delhi School of Economics. In an earlier avatar, he became well known as a journalist who specialized in reporting on economic issues and has worked with several media houses such as ‘Business India’, ‘Business World’, ‘The Telegraph’, ‘India Today’ and ‘The Pioneer’. For several years, he hosted the TV show ‘India Talks’ on CNBC India.
He has authored a well-known report on the problem of paid news in India which was submitted to the Press Council of India (PCI) and triggered considerable debate. He has lectured on the theme of media ethics and regulation at several public and educational institutions. He has also co-authored some well-received books such as ‘Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis’ (2014) and a commentary on ‘Media Ethics’ (Oxford University Press, 2011) among other titles.
Following the success of the Public Policy Lecture Series, another student group has come forward to organize a lecture series on Constitutionalism during the present academic year.
We have started this series with a talk by Dr. Arghya Sengupta on the subject of Judicial Appointments. It was on August 3, 2016 (Wednesday) in the 11:30 AM – 1 PM slot at the SAARCLAW Centre.
Arghya holds a bachelors’ degree in law from NLSIU (2008) where he graduated at the top of his class. This was followed by masters’ (B.CL) and doctoral (D.Phil) degrees in law from Oxford University. He had secured the prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford. Later, he founded the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in 2013 and has become a regular contributor to national newspapers and scholarly journals. I must mention that his doctoral thesis submitted at Oxford had concentrated on the problems with judicial appointments in India.
Please click here for wacthing the complete lecture
We would like to cordially invite you to NALSAR University of Law’s 2nd Annual Literary Festival, scheduled for the 30th and 31st of July, 2016.
The theme for this year’s fest is Free Speech and we have two panels.
The first panel on ‘Free Speech on Campuses‘ has Vasudha Nagaraj (advocate at the AP High Court and was involved closely in the HCU issue), Sriram Karri (journalist and writer), Satish Chandra (Professor of political philosophy at Osmania University) and Akhil Bharathan (Student leader at IIT Madras).
The panel on ‘Censorship and Freedom of the Press‘ has Siddharth Varadarajan (Founder-Editor of The Wire), Kingshuk Nag (Regional Editor of the Times of India), Gautam Navlakha (activist with the People’s Union for Democratic Rights and writer for Kafila, EPW, etc.), and Deeptha Rao (lawyer and activist at Alternative Law Forum).
Apart from this, we are also having Theatre, Spoken word poetry, Creative writing and Crossword competitions, as well as an Open Literature Quiz (no age bar), the details of which are on our Facebook page as well as in the attachment to this email. Do put us on to people you think may be interested.
The Schedule for the event is as follows;
30TH JULY, 2016: DAY 1
11:00- Inauguration Ceremony
11:30- Crossword Competition
14:00- Book Reading Performance by The Little Theatre, Hyderabad
15:30- Panel Discussion: Free Speech on Campuses, with Vasudha Nagaraj, Sriram Karri, Akhil Bharathan and Satish Chandra
18:00- Slam Poetry Competition, in collaboration with National Youth Poetry Slam.
20:00- Open Mic Poetry Night, followed by discussion with judges Harnidh Kaur and Janet Orlene.
31ST JULY, 2016: DAY 2
11:00- Open Literary Quiz
15:00- Panel Discussion: Censorship and Freedom of the Press, with Siddharth Varadarajan, Gautam Navlakha, Kingshuk Nag and Deeptha Rao
17:00- Theatre Competition
I have attached the schedule and details of the competitions. I would really appreciate it if you could spread the word as well as share our Facebook posts or page https://www.facebook.com/nalsar.litfest/
Thank you and regards,
Pallavi Balakrishnan,
On behalf of the Organising Committee,
NALSAR Literary Festival 2.0
We have hosted Mr. Arun Shourie (noted journalist, author and politician) for the a guest talk as part of the NALSAR Public Policy Lecture Series. He had delivered a lecture on the theme ‘Reading Judgments and Freeing Regulators’. The lecture was held on July 6, 2016 (Wednesday) between 4 pm – 5:30 pm.
The venue was M.K. Nambyar SAARCLaw Centre in the NALSAR campus. Entry was open to anyone who were interested in understing public policy matters in indetail.
for viewing the lecturer click the link here
Event: Ambedkar Memorial Lecture
Date: April 15 (3-4 pm)
Venue: SAARC Law Centre
Organized by: NALSAR SC/ST Cell
Speakers: Anoop Kheri – a Maharashtra based social scientist, activist, teacher, writer. He has two decade experience of working with students in higher education. He is the founder of first Dalit students national magazine “Insight” and has been instrumental in running Dalit and Adivasi students Helpline and various mentorship programmes across the country. He is a product of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
Dr. Suhas Bhasme – currently, Postdoc fellow at Indian School of Business(ISB), Hyderabad, India. His current research examines the complexities affecting the process of building community institutions. He completed Ph.D. (2014) from the Department of International Development, School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex. Before moving to Sussex, he was at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, where he studied for an MPhil and MA in Political Science.
Lectures by: Prof. Umakanth
Topic-1: “Corporate Law in India: Evolution and Current Trends”
Description: shall be a general lecture on policy, intended for a general audience i.e. prior knowledge of corporate law is not a pre-requisite.This talk will focus on developments from the 1990’s to the present, including the dynamics that led to the enactment of the Companies Act, 2013 and the impending reforms more recently. In doing so, he will be focusing on governance aspects.
Background read: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2557809
Time and Date: March 5, 2016 (11:30 pm onwards)
Venue: SAARC Law Centre
Organized by: Public Policy Group (as part of Policy Lecture Series)
Lectures by: Prof. Umakanth
Topic-2: “The Nature of the Market for Corporate Control in India”
Background read: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2698474
Time and Date: March 5, 2016 (2:30 pm onwards)
Talk by: Mr. Thomas Valenti (http://valentilaw.com/
Topic: Careers & Opportunities in ADR
Time and Date: Feb 18, 2016 (7:00 pm onwards)
Venue: Second Year classroom
Organized by: NALSAR ADR Board
Talk by: Mr. Mohan Guruswamy (President, Centre for Policy Alternatives and a Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation. He has formerly served as Advisor, Finance Minister, Government of India)
Topic: India: A Nation in search of a State
Time and Date: Feb 18, 2016 (4:15 pm onwards)
Venue: –
Organized by: Public Policy Group (as part of Policy Lecture Series)
Talk by: Ms. Kate Mogulescu (Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice, New York: Adjunct Professor, City College of New York)
Topic: ‘Working with Sexually Exploited Youth in Criminal and Juvenile Court Systems’
Time and Date: Feb 18, 2016 (2:30 pm onwards)
Venue: Meeting Hall
Ms. Vivian Huelgo (Chief Counsel – Task Force on Human Trafficking, Sexual and Domestic Violence, American Bar Association, Washington D.C., USA) made a presentation on ‘Legal Responses to Gender-Based Violence’ for the first year students on August 21, 2015 (11:30 am -1 pm). This talk was facilitated by the US Consulate in Hyderabad.
Mr. Sumeet Malik (Eastern Book Company, Lucknow) conducted multiple sessions on ‘Strategies for Legal Research’ for the students on August 14, 2015 (11:30 am – 12:30 pm for LL.M. students; 2 pm – 3 pm for 1st year B.A, LL.B. students).
Mr. Brian Katulis (Fellow at the Centre for American Progress, Washington D.C., USA) led a discussion on the ‘Current trends in US Foreign Policy in the Middle East’. His talk was held on July 24, 2014 (10 am – 11:30 am). It was organised with the support of the US Consulate in Hyderabad.
Ms. Amba Salelkar (A Chennai-based Freelance Columnist and Disability Rights Activist) gave a talk based on her experiences in litigation and disability-rights advocacy. This talk was targeted at LL.M. students and was held on July 17, 2015 (11:30 am – 12:30 pm).
Mr. Gautam Bhan [Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), New Delhi] led a discussion on the public representations of the LGBT movement in India. This was part of a student forum held on July 10, 2015 (4 pm – 5:30 pm).
Mr. Vikram Raghavan (Lead Counsel, World Bank, Washington D.C., USA) delivered a lecture on ‘Granville Austin and the Indian Constitution’ on July 9, 2015 (11:30 am – 1 pm). The lecture was targeted at LL.M. students in order to showcase methods of archival research apart from substantive discussions about the framing of the Indian Constitution.
Dr. Gary LaFree (Professor of Criminology, University of Maryland, USA) made a presentation on ‘Government Responses to Terrorism‘ on April 8, 2015 (2:30 pm – 4 pm). He is the Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) which is housed at the University of Maryland. The talk was organised with support from the US Consulate in Hyderabad.
A lecture by James Chang (Associate at the Beijing office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP) titled ‘Primer on Private Equity’ [April 6-7, 2015 from 11:30 am to 1 pm].
NALSAR & Landesa – National Conference on “Land Problems of Poor and Tribal: Need for Support Mechanisms” at NALSAR University of Law, in the R.N. Jhunjhunwala Conference Hall.
NALSAR Film Festival 3.0. (28th-29th March 2015) Theme – ‘Violence Against Communities’
i) ‘…ebong bewarish’ (and the Unclaimed) by Debalina
The movie narrates the heart wrenching tale of two young girls from Nandigram, whose love was met with social ostracism and oppression from the society they lived in and was driven to an untimely end.
ii) ‘Wasted’, by Anirban Datta
The movie takes us through diverse parts of our country to showcase the increasing accumulation of waste, from open sewages to our rivers, to make its argument that we need to rethink our understanding of recycling in the Indian context.
iii) ‘Chena Kintu Ajana’ (Known Strangers) by Dipankar Dutta
Known Strangers is about the folk theatre (jatra) performance in West Bengal, focusing particularly on female impersonators. Reminiscing of times when folk theatre used to draw huge crowds, it focuses on their career, their life after retirement, the end of the custom, their contribution to theatre and gender interpretation.
iv) Underworld Memories of the Untouchables and Don’t be our Fathers by Rupesh Kumar
A two part series on the theme of caste based in the director’s own village Peringeel in Kannur District of Kerala. Both movies trace the political inventions and interventions of caste. While the first movie is the memories of three generations of people from Peringeel tracing the subtlety of the new caste persecution, the second critiques the patriarchal approach to alleviate this oppression.
Allen & Overy LLP (a leading law firm headquartered in London, UK) organised the 7th edition of the International Finance and Corporate Laws Course (IFCC) for a selected group of Indian law students at NALSAR on March 13, 14 and 15, 2015. The resource-persons for the three day programme included Mr. Mario Jacovides, Ms. Sarah Wilson, Mr. Ian Roebuck, Mr. Kunal Katre, Mr. Paul Crook and Mr. Richard Woodworth. The participants included ten students each from WBNUJS Kolkata, NLU-Jodhpur, NLU-Delhi and NLSIU-Bangalore in addition to forty students from the third year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme at the host institution.
TechLawForum@NALSAR(link sends e-mail)‘s Tech Weekend.
Download the schedule from the following link.
Ms. Abha Thapayal Gandhi (Delhi-based publishing professional) interacted with the faculty members on March 4, 2015 (11:30 am-12:30 pm) where she highlighted the current trends in the field of legal publishing. She has previously worked as an editor in publishing houses such as LexisNexis Butterworths, Oxford University Press and the Eastern Book Company.
Dr. Timothy Cadman (Professor, Griffith University – Brisbane, Australia) delivered a lecture titled ‘Evaluating The Quality of Contemporary Global Governance: Theory, Analysis, Practice’ on March 3, 2015 (11:30 am-12:30 pm). This talk was targeted at students in the fourth year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme.
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Eleventh Gutta Sri Rama Rao Memorial Lecture by Shri Prashant Bhushan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India on the topic “Use of PIL in Fight against Corruption” on February 21, 2015 (11:30 am – 1 pm) in R.N. Jhunjhunwala Conference Hall.
Dr. Vasudevi Reddy (Professor, University of Portsmouth, UK) gave a talk based on her ongoing research on ‘Openness and Humility’ on February 16, 2015 (2 pm-3 pm). She teaches psychology. This talk was targeted at students in the second year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme.
Ms. Neha Dixit (a Delhi-based journalist) led a discussion with faculty members on February 11, 2015 (11:30 am-12:15 pm). She examined some case-studies to illustrate the difficulties in protecting the rights of workers in the informal sector, especially in areas affected by communal riots and other social disturbances.
Dr. Gerard Quinn (Professor, National University of Ireland-Galway) made a presentation as part of the regular faculty seminars on January 21, 2015 (11:30 am-12:30 pm). It was based on his ongoing research that looks at how the concept of legal personality needs to be interrogated and re-examined in light of the objectives of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Dr. Tarunabh Khaitan (Associate Professor, University of Oxford, UK) led a discussion on ‘The theoretical approaches to Anti-Discrimination law’ on January 4, 2015 (5:30 pm–7 pm). The talk was open to all students.
This Indo-Irish policy encounter, the first of its kind in the world, was organised by NALSAR and the National University of Ireland (Galway) Centre on Disability Law & Policy with the support of the Open Society Foundation. It sought to bring together key players and figures in the Indian and Irish legal and political systems to reflect together on the legacy of our past (especially the shared commitment to human autonomy), to share perspectives on the political process of reform toward a more support-oriented legal capacity regime, to share perspectives of those charged with drafting modern legislation and on the hopes and expectations of civil society in the process.
The format was somewhat unusual—not to say experimental. It was hoped that by bringing different strands into contact from both jurisdictions (Parliament, Executive, Judiciary, Civil Society) that interesting commonalities and shared problematics would be revealed.
The Irish delegation consisted of Dr. Gerard Quinn, Dr.Eilionoir Flynn, Ms. Anna Arstein-Kerslake, Ms.Elanor Rodgers, Mr.David Stanton (Chair of the Justice Committee in Irish Parliament), Ms. Elizabeth Kamundia and Prof. Gabor Gombos from Hungary. The Indian delegation saw a strong turnout, with vibrant representation from civil society organisations across disabilities. Mr.Madhu Goud Yaskhi, MP (Lok Sabha) and Dr.Sudha Kaul, Former Chairperson of the Former Law Reform Committee, Kolkata represented the legislative wing; Justice Dipak Misra, Supreme Court of India and Justice Rajeev Shakdher, Delhi High Court came in from the judiciary and the government was represented by Ms.Poonam Natrajan, Chairperson, National Trust of India and Dr.Sai Ramesh, National Institute for Mentally Handicapped.
Interactions amongst Parliamentarians from both countries were especially fruitful, with Mr. Stanton indicating a desire to open up another public hearing to hear what amendments the public would like to see in the Irish Bill. The participative process followed by India in drafting its 2011 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill drew much praise; a recognition that strengthened the University’s stance against an undemocratically drafted and non-CRPD compliant 2014 draft that the government sought to pass as a politically expedient measure soon after this conference.
NALSAR’s interventions against the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, on grounds of having laid to waste a unique and path-breaking legislative process, can be accessed here.
Dr. S. Muralidhar (Judge, High Court of Delhi) addressed a gathering of faculty members and LL.M. students on ‘How to make Law Schools socially relevant?’ on October 7, 2014 (11:30 am -12:45 pm).
Ms. Nandita Haksar (a noted human rights lawyer, activist and writer) interacted with the faculty members on September 17, 2014 (11:30 am–1 pm) and led a discussion on how to improve the teaching of human rights law and practice in the law schools.
Dr. Ved Kumari (Professor, Faculty of Law – Delhi University) spoke about ‘The debate on the lowering of the age for criminal responsibility’ on September 8, 2014 (11:30 am–12:45 pm). The discussion focused on the Union Cabinet’s decision to amend the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 so as to reduce the age of culpability for serious crimes such as murder and rape to 16 years. This talk was targeted at students in the fourth year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme.
Mr. Rajeev Kadambi (PhD candidate, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA) presented a work-in-progress as part of the regular faculty seminars on August 20, 2014 (11:30 am–12:45 pm). His talk examined Gandhian ideas of work, both in respect of personal development and societal obligations. The presentation and the ensuing discussion located these ideas as part of a larger intellectual inquiry into modern Indian socio-political thought.
Ambassador A.N. Ram (Retd. Indian Foreign Service officer) delivered a talk on ‘Recent Developments at the WTO concerning India’ on August 5, 2014 (2:30-4 pm). This was targeted at LL.M. students who are pursuing the International Trade and Business Laws specialization.
Ms. Jan Leach (Associate Professor, Kent State University, Ohio, USA) delivered a talk on ‘Ethical considerations in the reporting of gender-based violence’ on July 10, 2014 (2:15–3:45 pm). She teaches at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University in Ohio, USA. This talk was targeted at students in the first year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme. It was organised with the support of the US Consulate in Hyderabad.
Dr. Gerald N. Rosenberg (Associate Professor, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA) delivered a talk on ‘Whether courts can bring about social change?’ on July 8, 2014 (9:15pm–10:45pm). He teaches at the Department of Political Science and the Law School at his University. His talk and subsequent discussions were based on themes from his book ‘The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? (University of Chicago Press, 2nd ed. 2008; 1st ed. 1991). This talk was open to all students.
The Conferenceseeks to provide an interdisciplinary forum for scholars, academicians, officials and representatives of non-governmental organisations to discuss importance of Ambedkar’s ideas, ways to empower socially oppressed and ostracized groups, exploration of policies and practices to reform current system to encourage marginalized masses and strengthening judicial approach to engage with pressing demands for social justice. The basic purpose of the conference is to create meaningful dialogue on social justice agendae through active participation of intellectuals. There are also cash prizes for the best essay on the themes that are mentioned in the notification (download link below). It is the expectation of the organizers that several publications (books and/or special issues of scholarly journals) will result from the conference.
Mr. Nageswara Rao (In-House Counsel, Microsoft, Hyderabad) led a discussion on ‘Careers as in-house lawyers’ for the students in the 5th year of the B.A, LL.B. (Hons.) programme on March 18, 2014 (11:30 am – 12:30 pm).
This first HR conclave of the Centre for Management Studies (CMS), NALSAR sought to map the importance of sexual harassment prevention, prohibition and redress for creating an inclusive and enabling work environment in corporations. This obligation, now legally mandated by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, is perhaps best articulated in a management course run in a law school.
The event saw stalwarts from the industry, such as Ms. Sunita Cherian, Prof. N L Mitra and Mr. Pankaj Dubey, engage in deep discussions about the meaning of their obligations and the actualisation of safe spaces, with eminent legal scholars and practitioners like Ms. Indira Jaising, Ms. Ved Kumari and Ms. Kalpana Kannabiran.
Further details of the conclave can be accessed here.
Dr. Sitharamam Kakarala [Formerly with Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore and previously a faculty member at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore] addressed the faculty on strategies for improving research activities in the law schools. This was part of the regular faculty seminars held on February 12, 2014 (11:30 am–1 pm). He also gave a talk on ‘The idea of civil disobedience’ for students enrolled in an elective course later on the same day.
Mr. Abhinav Chandrachud (J.S.D. candidate, Stanford Law School, California, USA) delivered a lecture on ‘The informal criteria for judicial appointments’ on February 4, 2014 (2 pm – 4 pm) as part of the course on ‘Legal Profession and Ethics’ taught to students in the fifth year of the B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme.
The moot, in its third edition this year, was instituted in the memory of Shri Gurcharan Singh Tulsi in 2012 to promote the values which he cherished and practised all through his life. The moot proposition is based on criminal law and this year’s edition largely revolved around narcotics and cyber-crime issues. This edition prescribed a cap of 24 teams for the oral rounds to ensure quality participation who were selected on the basis of memo elimination from a total of 33 teams. The event saw participation by students from law schools all over the country, including participants coming in from NLS, Bangalore, NUJS, Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur, ILS Law College, Symbiosis Law College, GLC Mumbai among others. Seasoned mooters and practising advocates came down to judge the competition. The finals of the competition were judged by three sitting High Court judges.
ILS Law College, Pune and School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore reached the finals with ILS emerging as the winning team. ILS also won the Best Memorial award and NLU, Orissa finished second. The Best Speaker award was won by Prabhav Ralli from Amity GGSIPU and the second Best Speaker award went to Jacob Alexander from School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore. Researcher’s test was added in the this edition of the moot with Mitash Charan from Amity Law School, Noida winning the Best Researcher award and Agrim Arora, Amity Law School, GGSIPU & Amoolya Khurana, NLIU, Orissa tied for the second position. The winners were awarded trophies and cash prizes worth rupees 65,000.
The seminar, organised in association with the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad, focused on emerging debates on free speech, marginalisation and radicalisation in the context of the internet through conversations between people who have worked on various aspects of this issue, including leading jurists, lawyers, bloggers and activists who have embraced new technologies and students.
The Chief Guest for the inaugural session was Hon’ble Justice Mr. Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta, Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law. Hon’ble Dr. Justice S Muralidhar, Judge, Delhi High Court, the keynote speaker of the seminar, highlighted the inadequacy of the present legal system in tackling issues of online harassment and hate speech. He pointed out that different communities have differential access to discursive spaces, and while opposing criminalization, supported civil and other alternative remedies to safeguard the right of marginalised communities to effectively exercise their freedom of speech. He also emphasized the rights of individuals to privacy and “to disappear” from the virtual realm, while cautioning the audience about the permanence of electronic data and the ability of third parties to retrieve and view any information or harmful content, including that which has been deleted, on the internet. Guest of Honour, Hon’ble Justice Madan B Lokur, Judge, Supreme Court of India, discussed intolerance as an independent form of violence and drew attention to the transposing of real world caste based hatred to online platforms and the pressing need to find solutions to prevent the same. Mr Andrew McAllister, British Deputy High Commissioner, Hyderabad, reminded all of the need to balance principle with practicality in creating an inclusive environment on the internet.
The two days saw six panel discussions featuring prominent speakers such as Teesta Setalvad, Geeta Seshu, Anja Kovacs, Apar Gupta, Anil Maheshwari, Chinmayi Arun, Subi Chaturvedi, Richa Kaul Padte and Amlan Mohanty. Teesta Setalvad pointed out the need to question sources of information on the internet to find ways to discern between that which is credible and that which is not. Anja Kovacs, Director, Internet Democracy Project, urged the gathering to be clear about what sort of speech should be considered as ‘hate speech’ and proposed the use of thresholds of unacceptability rather than strict definitions in criminal law. She also stressed on the importance of engagement and non-law interventions in combating hate. Apar Gupta drew attention to the (mis)use of laws against hate speech to censor rather than protect dissenting voices, minorities and marginalised communities.
The seminar saw engagement on a number of contentious issues including whether the internet is a democratic space, the experience of marginalised communities on social media and responses to the same, whether self-regulation is a sustainable model to preserve freedoms online and yet control harmful speech, and whether our present laws are adequate to deal with the phenomenon of hate speech on social media. Hon’ble Justice R. V. Raveendran, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India and Chairperson, News and Broadcasting Standards Authority, India, presided over the valedictory ceremony