Faizan Mustafa
On 14 May, Nalsar Hyerabad vice-chancellor Prof Faizan Mustafa had published a column in the Tribune headlined “NCW has failed our women”, arguing for reform of the National Commission for Women (NCW).
The new Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), which the national law universities (NLU) had recently decided will be held by a permanent CLAT secretariat instead of letting a new NLU learn find new ways of botching it up every year, will be held entirely offline.
Nalsar Hyderabad vice chancellor Prof Faizan Mustafa said at an event on education organised by the New Indian Express: “People are coming to law colleges not because they want to become good lawyers, it’s because they want to become corporate lawyers.”
NUJS Kolkata's vice chancellor (VC) Prof Ishwara Bhat now has a second loss-of-confidence petition signed against him by the law school's student body in his career of six years at the helm at the West Bengal national law school.
NUJS Kolkata has finally constituted its 16-years-overdue review commission, nine months after former Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur signed a resolution to institute a judicial review of the law school.
The judiciary-appointed review commission of NUJS Kolkata, which was signed off on by NUJS’s ex-chancellor and ex-Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur in November 2016, remains 16-years overdue and has not been signed off on yet.
Nalsar Hyderabad vice chancellor Faizan Mustafa has commented on the fallout of the open letter written by an anonymous student alleging sexual assault and harassment by another unnamed student, reaffirming the university’s commitment to “open conversation” and remaining a “liberal space”.
Nalsar Hyderabad has increased its batch size from 80 to 120 students from this year, after having been in violation of a Bar Council of India (BCI) rule on batch sizes for up to nine years.
Nalsar Hyderabad elected its first ever female Student Bar Council (SBC) president last month in the first ever direct presidential elections at the law school.
Governor files petition against NaMo for pushing out governors: Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has filed a writ under Articles 155 and 156(1) of the Constitution against Narendra Modi and his government for pushing him (and other governors) out of their constitutional positions. He will be arguing before a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha, that he could only be sacked by the president and with valid cause because a governor is not an employee of the Union government. [Indian Express]
CBI court grants A Raja, business bigwigs bail in 2G-Kalaignar TV case: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has granted Rs 5 lakh bail to politicians A Raja, Kanimozhi, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables directors Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood producer Karim Morani and P Amirtham in a money laundering case related to the 2G scam. The case alleges that Rs 200 crore were paid to Kalaignar TV, owned by the DMK party, to grant telecom licences to companies of the DB Group [Indian Express]
Death of planning commission, long live NDRC? What would the new planning commission mooted by Narendra Modi look like, experts speculate in [Mint]
BCI chairman should sit on JAC, says Rajiv Khosla: Delhi High Court Bar Association’s (DHCBA) president Rajiv Kohosla has said he wants the Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman to have a seat on the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), several days after parliament passed the NJAC Act.
SC PIL looks into coaching centres: Centre tells Supreme Court that it can’t regulate private entrance coaching centres for engineering, medicine or other subjects, in a PIL filed by the CPI(M) party’s student wing [The Hindu]
Court orders police to free Manipur hunger striker again: Manipur East sessions court released the world’s longest hunger striker Irom Sharmila from jail for what her captors allege is an attempt to commit suicide by hunger strike. However, in the last 13 years and nine months, she had often been released by the courts and arrested again by the police for continuing with her hunger strike against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, reported [Scroll]
SC sweeps aside SCBA petition vs new SC Rules: The Supreme Court has refused the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) plea before it to amend the new Supreme Court Rules 2013 that were set to come into force on 19 August, which were allegedly introduced without consultation with the bar [The Hindu]
Bus accident victim gets Rs 12 lakh compensation in tribunal: The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) in UP awarded the damages against the bus driver, DTC and the insurance company for causing 60 per cent disability in the plaintiff’s left leg [PTI]
Faizan Mustafa wins something: Nalsar Hyderabad vice chancellor wins South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) award for best law teacher that was decided by a “high-powered jury”, reported [The Hindu] and others. It will be conferred by the law minister in future.
Nalsar Hyderabad has called on politicians to scrap the cabinet draft of the Disability Rights Bill that was leaked to activists in late January 2014, and which undoes much of the positive proposals put forward in the original committee’s codification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that India ratified in 2007.
11th-standard students in 200 Indian schools may have “legal studies” as an elective subject option academic year 2013-14 onwards.
Exclusive: Dismissed NLSIU Bangalore faculty member Sidharth Chauhan is currently in talks to join Nalsar Hyderabad in June for the start of the next academic session.
Nalsar Hyderabad has turned a new leaf on the dramatic events of last year that culminated in the resignation of its then-vice chancellor (VC). An investigation by the Andhra Pradesh bar council has now exonerated senior faculty members who were alleged to have enjoyed financial and administrative privileges under the previous administration, while the controversial post of dean of academic affairs has been abolished, and Prof Vijender Kumar has been appointed as registrar.