NUALS Vice-Chancellor Post - A request to the Chancellor before the bargain and horse trading begins!

National Institute for Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) was set up by the Bar Council of Kerala Trust in 2002. NIALS was under the supervision of Cochin University of Science and Technology. Later in 2005 by virtue of The National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) Act 27 of 2005, the National Institute for Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) merged with the NUALS and became an independent University. This in short is the history behind the establishment of what is currently known as NUALS.

Prof. K.N.C. Pillai was the first Director of NIALS and Prof. S. G. Bhat was the first Vice-Chancellor of NUALS. After, the retirement of Prof. Bhat, the post was kept vacant for more than a year. During this period, the current Vice-Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) N. K. Jayakumar, was serving as the Legislative Secretary in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on deputation from the University of Kerala, where he served as a Professor. Immediately after his retirement from the University of Kerala, he was appointed as the Vice- Chancellor of NUALS. It is often alleged by many that the post of Vice-Chancellor was kept vacant for a year to enable Dr. Jayakumar to assume Vice-Chancellorship.

When I joined NUALS in 2006, we were promised that the construction of permanent campus would be completed within a year and that the University will shift to the permanent campus by the next year. The permanent campus, however, became a reality the year I passed out.  Thanks to the redtapism and lacklustre administration I along with many others could not even study for a single day at the new campus. That the administration is insensitive to the needs of the students and growth of the University equally is a fact that I can vouch for from my experience at NUALS.

I recently learned from my juniors at law school that the scenario has improved a lot. The campus itself has made a lot of difference and Dr. Jayakumar played an instrumental role in setting up the campus. Campus placement has also improved drastically and lot of other fruitful events and activities are happening at present. I was really happy to learn all these developments.

The current Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Jayakumar is due to retire in December and the bargaining/horse trading for the post has already begun. In all circumstances, Dr. Jayakumar is unlikely to get an extension of the tenure except for the reason of ongoing campus construction; which is very minute.

There are three main contenders to the post; I am not mentioning any of the names over here.  

Recently Krishna Kumar, Professor of Education at Delhi University and a former Director of NCERT, wrote in “The Hindu” an excellent column on India not nurturing young talent in academics. He mentioned, “Someone rare enough to be independent of personal as well as intellectual lobbies is the first to be eliminated. In the semi-final act of short listing, those lacking support from the dominant lobbies get weeded out. Then, in the ultimate moment, hard bargaining takes place and the institution’s future gets sealed. If there is someone with an unusual background or achievement, you can depend on the selection committee to find a technical ground to reject him or her.”

As per Section 27 of the NUALS Act, the Chancellor appoints the Vice-Chancellor on the unanimous recommendation of the Search Committee appointed by the Chancellor. The Search Committee shall consist of a) One nominee of the Bar Council of Kerala, b) One nominee of the University Grants Commission and c) One nominee of the State Government. As per Section 27(3), In case the Search Committee is unable to recommend a name unanimously, the Vice Chancellor shall be appointed by the Chancellor from among a panel of three names submitted to him by the Committee within three months. Section 27 (4) stipulates that, In case, the Committee fails to make an unanimous recommendation or to submit a panel as in section  27(3), the Vice-Chancellor shall be appointed by the Chancellor among a panel of three names submitted  to him by a majority of members of the Search Committee.  These are the rules governing appointment of the Vice-Chancellor.

Under the current political scenario, effectively, the Kerala Bar Council nominee and State Government nominee will have the final word. Prior to Amendment in 2008, the Search Committee consisted of a nominee of the Bar Council of India and not that of the Bar Council of Kerala. Also, it is a known fact that the Kerala Bar Council nominee and State Government nominee will be political appointments.

My request to the Chancellor of the University, Madame Justice Manjula Chellur is to instruct the Search Committee to adopt a transparent and fair process in the selection process. I would say that, even the vacancy for the post should be advertised and notified in all national dailies across India.

The more the people, more the options we have. We would not have to choose between few bad options. The Committee should also follow a fair and transparent process during all stages of the selection and they should have concrete reasons for suggestion a names/names. This should be included in a report and the same should be made available to public.

I would like to conclude by noting that, this incident is never an isolated event. This is what happens in each and every University and I would recommend everyone to read Krishna Kumar’s article in “The Hindu” for a critical analysis of the system.

I will be sending a Petition to the Chancellor about the need for a transparent process in the selection of the new Vice-Chancellor and anyone who wishes to sign the Petition  along with me; please let me know about the same. My mail id is raghulsudheesh@gmail.com or you can reach me on phone at +91 87221 53555.

Lordship says Courts should not legislate but my Lordship you legislated from the Bench!

Recently the Press Council of India Chairman and former Apex Court Judge, Justice Markandey Katju remarked that, “Shouldn't there be a restraint amongst judges? The Supreme Court has been playing a legislative role which is totally unwarranted. The Supreme Court should show restraint, many times the Supreme Court has taken over Parliament, Legislature and I gave a judgment that judges are not emperors that they can do whatever they like”. 

I fully agree with Justice Katju on these issues and also regarding the appointment of judges through Collegium system and I myself have been verycritical about this in the past.

In Aruna Shanbaug’s case, on May 7, 2011, Justice Katju delivered a landmark judgment legalizing passive euthanasia in India. Justice Katju in that case remarked, “We are laying down the law in this connection which will continue to be the law until Parliament makes a law on the subject”. In this case the Apex Court gave very detailed directions regarding the proceedings for removal of life supporting system. This is nothing but judicial legislation.

On October 21, 2010, in D. Velusamy vs D. Patchaiammal where Justice Katju laid down the legal framework for recognizing a woman's rights in a live-in relationship, he mentioned, “In our opinion not all live in relationships will amount to a relationship in the nature of marriage to get the benefit of the Act of 2005. To get such benefit the conditions mentioned by us above must be satisfied, and this has to be proved by evidence.” This is also another instance of judicial legislation done by Justice Katju. This case was also famous for another reason, as Justice Katju used Wikipedia (which can be edited by anyone and anytime) to discuss the meaning of the term “Common Law Marriage”.

In anothercase, Justice Katju directed the trial/High Courts to award the death sentence to the convicts in "honour killings" cases, treating them in the ‘rarest of rarest’ category. Further in a case regarding fake encounters, Justice Katju remarked, “Cases where a fake encounter is proved against policemen in a trial, they must be given death sentence, treating it as the rarest of rare cases". The Criminal Procedure Code mandates that a judgment shall state ''the reasons for the sentence awarded and, in the case of sentence of death, the special reasons for such sentence''. Interpreting the scope of the term “special reasons” in the Bachan Singh case, the Court mandated that death sentence shall be awarded only in the ‘rarest of rare cases’. This is a judicial amendment of the Code and Justice Katju has been only adding to this by classify cases in the ‘rarest of rare’ category.

In 2009, a two judge Bench comprising Justice Katju and Justice A.K. Ganguly made a reference to a five judge Bench  differing with the order passed in 2006 by a two-judge Bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat regarding guidelines on student union elections in colleges and universities and a subsequent order to control the ragging menace. The Bench said, “the initial order directing the implementation of the report of the J.M. Lyngdoh Committee was wholesome and the court also directed the manner of implementation. The Bench felt that the proper course should have been to send the recommendations to the Parliament to make a law or to the Universities concerned so that they could take a decision on implementation.” It was this sane Judge who later created exhaustive guidelines legalizing passive euthanasia.

All these show the inconsistency of Justice Katju as a Judge and as a person. Now that he has retired from the Apex Court, he can criticize the Court for judicial legislation and say that 90% of Indians are fools! I am reminded of Francis Bacon’s words, “much-talking Judge is like an ill-tuned cymbal”.

Call for Research Assistants at H. R. Khanna Law Research Foundation

H. R. Khanna Law Research Foundation, is a think tank organization based in New Delhi. Eminent Supreme Court lawyer, P. George Giri is the Honorary Chairman of the foundation. 

The foundation invites applications from law students for the post of 'Research Assistant'. Any law student in India is eligible to apply. Selected candidates will have to work with the foundation for a minimum period of three months and the work can be done online. Physical presence is not needed. Selected candidates will be asked to research on varied topics of law.

An ideal candidate should possess the following qualities:

1. Should be a quick learner.
2. Should be really ambitious and creative. 
3. Should be able to work under tight circumstances to meet deadlines.
4. Should be able to work with team and self-directed.
5. Should be a problem solver. 

Interested candidates may submit their resumes and a letter of interest to <hrkhanna.foundation@gmail.com> on or before August 20, 2012. Selected candidates will be intimated about the same. 

All 'Research Assistants' would be provided with certificates signed by the Honorary Chairman, P. George Giri. 

Stripped Law would recommend all law students to avail this opening as this can definitely lend an extra edge to your resume. 

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Stripped Law launches Project LIEN in collaboration with GLC- Calicut

There is always room at the top they say. However, when it comes to legal education in India, this room does not seem to be well utilised. The state of legal education in India portrays two quite extreme sides, when it comes to the nature and quality of education being imparted. There are the elite national law schools and other first tier institutions and then there are the others. Law may remain the same, however, due to lack of opportunity and high standards of assimilation of knowledge, the ‘others’ clan often produces an army of educated unemployed devoid of practical application skills.

This is the reason behind the mythical perception of legal education beyond the ambit of the elite law institutions. Indirectly, it not only leads to a qualitative as well as quantitative decline in the number of professionals in the legal arena, but also affects the prospects of law as a vocational option. As such, it is the responsibility of the legal fraternity as a whole to pool in the available resources and improve the existing scenario for the sake of the students and channel out this improvement in the broader perspective. Project LIEN marks the introduction of one such initiative, which seeks to connect the high end resourceful branches of the legal fraternity to the lower end of the law students and thus develop an extensive knowledge assimilation program. It provides a platform for the expert academicians in various fields of law to interact with the students of the ‘other’ law colleges and instigate a cycle of sharing information and skills among the students.

Project LIEN on one hand provides a unique opportunity for the legal fraternity to contribute towards the grass root development of the legal education sphere, and on the other hand a chance for the students to develop practical skills. There have been several plans coming up regarding setting up a National Law School in every state in the country. However, LIEN operates on the line of thought of making every other law institution in India an equivalent hub of knowledge and skills as the top law institutions of the country.

The Project proposes a four staged process. Initially, the students are sensitized by various legal experts as to the various areas of law, for instance, mergers, acquisitions, intellectual property regulations, etc. This forms the First Stage and would facilitate insight into various legal dimensions, delivered by the experts themselves. The main objective of this stage would be to deliver an extra edge of practical application of law to the students, besides the basic theoretical concepts.

The second stage would include the formation of student groups. These groups will be formed by the students among themselves after the sensitization process is over. The groups will be formed according to the interests of the students in the various areas of law. For instance, there may be an IPR group constituted by students interested in the Intellectual Property Regulations. Each group shall also appoint a team leader. These student groups will then sensitize each other on the area chosen and will get updated to the maximum. Each student can pick up a specific sub-topic and update the other group members regarding the same. In this way, each student will be able to get a comprehensive insight of the particular area.

After the intra-group sensitization concludes, the groups begin an inter-group approach and assimilate the knowledge of their areas to students of other groups. This can be done by organising seminars, workshops and other such activities. This forms the Third Stage.

After the extensive exercise of information exchange, the process of institutionalisation will start, when the students will initiate the process of forming academic power houses among themselves. The students create a platform and then participate in the subsequent developments in their respective areas of interest by analysing and commenting on the advancements happening in the legal arena. This forms the fourth stage.

The project derives its origins from a program conceptualised by the batch of 2011 of National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi. Unfortunately, with the lack of proper monitoring and support, the desired results could not be achieved. As such, Stripped Law founder Raghul Sudheesh has now decided to reinforce the idea by compiling and collaborating available resources with adequate monitoring so as to take this to the next level. Project LIEN derives its basis from a system supported by the academic fraternity of the legal education sphere and the assistance of the students and teachers of the target institutions. It involves a collective effort to bring about success in achieving the objectives targeted by the project.

So far, eminent personalities like Prof. MP Singh, Prof. Shamnad Basheer, Apar Gupta and Advocate M.A. Rashid have joined the Board of Advisors for the project. Many academic experts have volunteered for the sensitization program.. The Pilot project has already been initiated in the Government Law College, Calicut.

In furtherance of advancing the collaboration between the different spheres of the legal regime, Project LIEN calls for volunteers from all levels of the legal fraternity to aid this initiative and contribute to their social responsibility.

Law Students can apply as volunteers for implementation of the program at the institutional level. Interested Student Volunteers can apply with a statement of purpose to the email id given below.

Further, partnerships and collaborations from all the people and institutions of the legal fraternity are invited to further strengthen this noble project.

Any inquiries in this regard can be made to

Mr. Raghul Sudheesh

Email: raghulsudheesh@gmail.com.

Mob: +91 87221 53555.

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Project LIEN Concept Note