It is understood, however, that the regional anti-FM lobby is leaving no stones unturned to challenge the outcome of the decision and stall the signing of the Minutes of the Meeting. These attempts at undermining the process are unprecedented.
Why don't they just let the poor chap retire in peace? He has done more than his share for legal education by now. Isn't there anyone capable enough in the next generation to take over the baton?
Makes Prof. Amita Dhanda (given she is the most prominent protege of Prof. Baxi) an important voice in the selection of the new VC. However, I would believe that she was anyways going to have a role in any such conversation.
In my educated but limited opinion, this would prop up the chance of Prof. Mustafa continuing, or someone like Prof Kamala Sankaran, or Prof. Ved Kumari.
No, the committee can consider all names. I agree that generally when a committee is set-up, it is done as the decision for change has been made. However, FM will not (if he wants to continue) get a voice more powerful and friendly as Baxi.
PS: Not saying Baxi will be swayed by anything other than merit. Just noting a possible angle.
Never said she ‘controls’ Baxi! I just pointed out that governs she has been at NALSAR since its inception, she is someone Baxi (and the committee) may turn to for advice on ‘fit’ of a candidate to the place. ‘May’ being the operative word here.
Similarly, never said Baxi doesn’t have other protégés. I only said that she is an important one, and she is at NALSAR.
She has a complicated history with NALSAR. She's given a lot to it but the institution does need to grow beyond her vision. A strong university has more than one superstar professor. Look at NLS.
Who are the 'superstar professors' that NLSIU has? Can't seem to recall any of their professors having an enviable or global standard research or publication credentials. Even Sudhir's publication record is not a stellar one. These adjectives are being thrown around these days with impunity. Even Dhanda's own publication record is just about acceptable. She is a good teacher and a decent administrator no doubt.
Arun is just one person. Sorry, I've seen the works of both Mrinal and Aparna. They are decent, but not really world class by any stretch of imagination. You should really read more world class work in that case to be better aware of the standard, before advising others to read.
Arun is "world class"? LMAO LMAO Are things so bad that this qualifies as world class? He is so world class that even when editors invite him to contribute to a book, usually they ask him to contribute useless chapters. (Obviously I'm enough of an insider to know these things) To his credit however, I've never heard him say aloud that he is world class.
Sounds like a lot of envy talking. I can't think of anyone with any amount of professionalism who would talk in that way about people who are generous enough to write for them. Whatever you are an insider of, I suggest you rethink your circles. Or maybe read his book which is excellent.
Kalpana Kannabiran is the former Nalsar professor who published extensively and wrote quality stuff. Probably much more than anyone who has ever been on the Nalsar faculty. You'll have to ask around to find out why she didn't stay and what might get her to return.
This is just ignorant. Go look at the faculty page of nls. Many of the people who have joined in the past few years have perfectly good publication records.
Not sure what you meant by perfectly good records, but they aren't really well-known in their respective fields yet. To be fair to them, most of them are also young and some are quite good teachers. However, if you want to call their research and publications world class, then that's a huge exaggeration. There are very few Indian legal academics of that stature.
What would you see as world class? According to you Baxi would not qualify either because he does not pop up in international jurisprudence the way he does in India. People who focus on India can be world class without necessarily being internationally famous. Sometimes, they are very much in global academic circles but they are just not the type to name-drop. These are all brilliant people. They could easily have chosen to work in another country but they came back and chose to do their work in India. That should not be the reason to be condescending about them.
I was not aware that refusing to call someone a world class academic in a premature fashion is equivalent to being condescending to them. Nobody refused to call Baxi a world class academic, but your attempts to use him in order to prove that the likes of Mrinal or Aparna belong to the same category are rather amusing. You are considered world class when prominent people all over the world working in the same field are aware of and respect your work, simple. None of the current NLSIU faculty members qualify on that metric. To be honest, very few Indian legal academics do.
Comment 4 made by 'Guestbook' is absolutely false and misleading. The NALSAR Academic Council Meeting was held on January 10, 2022 in a hybrid form. Out of the 19 people in the Academic Council, 16 participated in the discussion on Item 6 which dealt with the nomination of one member of the Selection Committee to choose the next Vice-Chancellor. The second member of the Selection Committee will be nominated by the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court and the third member will be nominated by the Chairman, University Grants Commission.
The three AC members who did not participate were the outgoing Vice-Chancellor), the present Registrar who is interested in applying for the VC position and one external member. Out of the 16 people who did take part, the following opinions were expressed:-
- 9 people supported Prof. Upendra Baxi's name which was proposed by the Acting Chair (a Former Supreme Court Judge) - 5 people supported a second name - 2 people opposed both names and proposed some other alternatives
No one formally recorded their disagreement with the name proposed by the Chair. Even if the matter had been put to vote, there would be a clear 9-7 majority. Following the norms of these meetings, one can presume a 14-2 majority, since even the members who proposed the second name accepted the decision of the Chair.
The proceedings of the meeting have been recorded and the Vice-Chancellor can share the same with the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court in order to rebut the false allegations being made in some quarters.
a) DU people b) consti/human rights scholars c)lefties
So my money is on Ved Kumari or Kamala Sankaran, rather than an NLU alum. I doubt if Baxi and Dhanda have even heard of an IP scholar like Srividhya Raghavan, let alone read her work.
Unlike academics teaching in India, her job in the US depends on her writing. Why don't you read her work and compare it to these people you just know because you see them more often and then comment.
You'll be surprised to know the vastness of taxi's reading and also his knowledge of people in law schools working on India both here and abroad. I once had the pleasure of sitting down with him and chatting about scholars in environmental law (my field), and I was surprised to know how many people he could knock off of the top of his head. And these people were scattered across the world working on environment in relation to South Asia.
Summary: he isn't possibly the tallest legal scholar produced by India without 'knowing' things for which you and I might not give him credit.
Will not be better for the growth of NALSAR with Ved Kumari as VC. She has a dictatorial attitude which is not at all student friendly plus she does not supports campus placements.
The first part even Sudhir does. But NLSIU is still flourishing under him. Undergrad students actually need someone to call the shots for them, provided the latter knows what is the real requirement.
It is learnt that honourable justice MBL Chaired the meeting. He proposed baxi's name. Strongly supported by AD and V kumari. All 3 from DU.
Some opposed baxi very strongly citing his age and health as a pretended reason. The real reason is that a particular group will now try to controll the selection of the new VC through Baxi.
The mighty 3 overpowered the minnows although thay had the majority. After years of marginalisation this was their only chance to have their say, if that too is denied, what shall they do, just sign the minutes as presented by the ....or fight for their rights? The process was undermined in the meeting.
Please see Comment 4.1. There were clearly 9 members in favour of Prof. Baxi. 5 others who had proposed a second name did not object to the Chair's decision to first approach Prof. Baxi. There were 2 others who objected to both names. As per the norms of these meetings, a clear majority has gone with the Chair's suggestion. If you are going to peddle fake news here, the recording of the meeting will speak for itself if the matter is examined by higher authorities.
There are plenty of other ways to make incompetent people feel unwelcome by the admin. Maybe Sarkar should have taken tuition from the Nagarbhavi Messiah about that. But if one is a mediocre scholar himself, then he can't very well call others out for the same reason.
Nalsarite here. Don't get me wrong - in all my interactions with Prof. Baruah, he's come off as congenial and knowledgeable - but he is far from qualified/eligible for the post. Even at JGLS, he had literally become a Professor last year, and he has a long way to go before his position as an academic scholar is deemed comparable for a VC position at any major college.
You leave out Sridhar Acharyalu, former information commissioner Pritam's an Oxford BCL but his PhD is from UCL. He may not have enough experience as a full professor yet but will be an excellent choice in the future. How far are Ved Kumari and Kamla Sankaran from retirement? They're not going to appoint someone on the verge of retiring.
Baruah is a UCL PhD, not an Oxford PhD. His publication record seems pretty underwhelming. You can contrast tat with someone like Shubhankar Dam, who has several good publications, although not a PhD.
Dam himself told me once that despite the professor level offers that people like Madhav Menon and MP Singh and others had given him, strictly speaking he does not have formal qualifications for any post other than teaching assistant posts in India. It is because he only has 9 months LLM and no Net qualifications etc. Indian LLM is for 2 years. This is what he himself said
Are you living in some dreamland? Indian LLMs have been for one year for over 7 years now. As for NET, UGC allows all the universities to relax it for suitable candidates, just like they can relax the number of years of experience. Subhankar has been teaching abroad as a professor for long enough, though not having the PhD will make it difficult for old school people in India to accept him.
Correction: Dam has 2 LLMs (Oxford BCL and Harvard LLM). As for 9 months, that cannot be an issue because UK LLMs are cumulatively 12 months: 8 months of study and the rest of the time for exams, exam prep and writing of the thesis. Dam finished his thesis ahead of time and saved 3 months, but that doesn't mean he has a 9 month LLM.
But I know what Dam is hinting at. A jealous faculty member at NUJS had objected to Shamnad on that ground. It's a matter of record which the NUJS RTI records revealed. But this jealous person was shot down by bigshots in the EC (in those days, some of the country's top lawyers and judges were on the EC).
Among NLU alumni, the person who is probably closest to Baxi is Lawrence Liang. Baxi has been a big supporter of Liang and ALF for the past 20 years. Liang's bio on the AUD site even says: "Co-Editing a book length interview with Prof. Upendra Baxi which traces his intellectual contribution to legal scholarship in India." However, the sexual harassment case against Liang makes it difficult for Baxi to back him, so I think we can rule him out. As for Srividhya, I don't think Baxi knows her and is thus unlikely to back her. A DU prof is thus the best bet. As a sitting NLU VC (Odisha), I think Ved Kumari has a great chance.
Lawrence Liang isn't qualified? He has been DEAN of AUD. Also has a PhD from JNU, an LLM from Warwick as a Chevening scholar and was a Fulbright scholar at Yale. He also founded ALF and invented the concept of copyleft and won the Infosys Prize for it, but that's minor for you I guess?
Err...please educate yourself. Liang didn't 'invent' the concept of copyleft. He isn't even the first person in India to talk about it. Only his fanboys think that. Additionally, he's an accused in a sexual harassment matter. No self respecting institution should have him at its helm.
I think Prof Rajkumar from JGLS could be a strong candidate. He has the requisite experience as a VC and his DU background will make Baxi support him. Plus, he hired Baxi at JGLS too. I also think the students at NALSAR would also approve him as VC, although they may have reservations about the neoliberal education model at JGLS and seek an assurance that such policies will not be replicated at NALSAR.
The Chancellor (Telengana HC CJ) will be another key player. Here is his bio.
In the end, it will probably between 3 Vs who are all VCs of NLUs: Ved Kumari, VC Vivekanandan and Vijay Kumar. I think Ved Kumari will be the favourite.
HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, B.Sc., LL.B. Born on 30th November, 1961 at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Father, Shri Dr. B. N. Sharma apart from being known as a well established agriculturalist was also a renowned professor of Jabalpur University and subsequently the Vice Chancellor of Barkatullah University, Bhopal. Mother Smt. Shanti Sharma was a Principal in Maharani Lakshmibai Higher Secondary School and also worked as District Education Officer at Jabalpur before retirement. Started schooling from Christ Church Boys Higher Secondary School and passed 10 th standard and 12 th standard from Central School, Jabalpur. Enrolled as a student of Bachelor of Science in 1979 at Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar. Secured degree of Bachelor of Science in the year 1981 with distinction in three subjects.
Awarded National Merit Scholarship for Post Graduate Studies. Enrolled as a student of law in Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar in 1981. Graduated on top of the class and obtained LL.B. degree in 1984 with three university Gold Medals. Enrolled as an advocate on 01-09-1984. Practiced in Constitutional, Service, Civil and Criminal matters before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur. Was appointed Additional Central Government Counsel on 28-05- 1993 and was appointed senior panel counsel by Government of India on 28-06-2004. In 2003 he was designated as a Senior Advocate by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at the young age of 42 being one of the youngest senior advocates of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Elevated as an Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court on 18 th January 2008. Appointed as a Permanent Judge on 15th January, 2010. Justice S. C. Sharma is an avid reader and is also known for his contributions to various Universities. He is associated with National Law universities. He is also on the Advisory Board of National Law Institute University Bhopal and has published numerous research articles and papers.
Obviously. It remains to be seen who he nominates. However, the university has done a good thing by nominating Baxi as that ensures whoever else is nominated to the panel will have to take his opinions strongly into consideration. That weight added to Baxi interest in legal education more generally will more likely than not ensure a strong shortlist of candidates. From there on it is always anybody's game.
I just hope the university can dodge a ball with [...], [...], [...] type characters who are mediocre at best and have a history who have a history of grouping with other mediocre people lower down the rung ([...], [...], [...] for instance). Hell, to me even [...] ('khaye ga, but karma karega' type character) or [...] ('sophisticated iMac type chor' character) would be better.
In any case, I really hope it's none of them and the university can get an outsider unbound by internal pettiness.
Not very happy to see all that is getting posted here. Specially when most of it is being done by one Assistant Professor (or at times by students at his behest; students who have zero background except the propaganda that has been hammered into their minds) who has been made to believe that he matters in the scheme of things. When it is a fact that the beneficiary of his last such (alleged) crusade, upon becoming VC wasted no time in closing doors of his Alma matter on his face.
It’s shocking that even LI is comfortable in approving such defamatory stuff with zero application of mind.
Ha ha! You must be really concerned about the said Assistant Professor's alleged influence. I will not be surprised if he does actually leave later this year and go back to his alma mater in Nagarbavi. Current NALSAR students are not kids that they can be instigated by anyone to post comments here.
From what I remember from my undergraduate days in Shamirpet, the propaganda actually came from the teachers who were least interested in doing their job such as actually taking classes, reading projects and actually doing something to help students. Based on what I am hearing, it is the same group which is pushing for some very questionable characters in the VC selection. They would obviously be very happy if the said Assistant Professor and several other junior teachers (who actually do their job with honesty and diligence) leave the institution. This group would much rather have a VC who turns a blind eye to rampant plagiarism by senior professors who free-ride off the work done by junior teachers as well as students and hands out promotions to people who have not updated their syllabus in more than a decade.
If the said Assistant Professor is building opinion against such characters, then more power to him. I hope he ignores the noise and stays on in Shamirpet for many more years to come. Especially after AD's retirement, the place needs people like him to hold the fort.
I can now confirm that Sid.C has in fact applied for a teaching position at NLSIU. He personally told some current 5th year students that he has appeared for their interviews which were held this week. So in all likelihood, he will go back to Bangalore later this year, perhaps as early as July 2022. This obviously means that FM has little chance of re-appointment and the candidates in the fray do not inspire much confidence. Institutions are much bigger than individuals, but if Sid.C. does leave NALSAR, it will be hard to replace him, both in terms of teaching involvement and organisational capacity. His likely departure may also lead to a few others leaving in the coming months. Now it is imperative for students and alumni to organise themselves and protect the institution's future.
She's a great professor and it is good if she stays and continues to teach. But leadership and senior scholars need to include people from outside her universe.
as per the regulation only one extension can be given, after that fresh selection process has to be conducted, no bar for the incumbent to reapply and be reappointed
so, in effect this search committee has as much utility as the INC president search committee
Since you are not getting any legal education at all while at NUJS, why don't you focus on getting some on your own instead of spending time here? Everyone knows that the academic standard of NUJS students these days is plummeting fast.
To all those dissing Ballu, he has been one of the most accessible and congenial registrars NALSAR has had; VK would make students wait for hours for signing even a simple letter.
While FM has been a good VC, he was not the one who drove the changes in recent years; AD was at the fore. He just created an environment which allowed for this.
The VC need not be some great scholar. He just needs to create an environment for talented colleagues to prosper. I really don't see why Ballu doesn't fit this criteria.
The second member of the Selection Committee has also become known. The University Grants Commission has nominated Dr. Gurmeet Singh, presently Vice-Chancellor of Pondicherry University and previously Professor of Chemistry at Delhi University. The third member is to be nominated by the CJ of Telangana High Court.
In my educated but limited opinion, this would prop up the chance of Prof. Mustafa continuing, or someone like Prof Kamala Sankaran, or Prof. Ved Kumari.
PS: Not saying Baxi will be swayed by anything other than merit. Just noting a possible angle.
Similarly, never said Baxi doesn’t have other protégés. I only said that she is an important one, and she is at NALSAR.
Are things so bad that this qualifies as world class? He is so world class that even when editors invite him to contribute to a book, usually they ask him to contribute useless chapters. (Obviously I'm enough of an insider to know these things)
To his credit however, I've never heard him say aloud that he is world class.
The other candidate got 7.
That says everything.
The three AC members who did not participate were the outgoing Vice-Chancellor), the present Registrar who is interested in applying for the VC position and one external member. Out of the 16 people who did take part, the following opinions were expressed:-
- 9 people supported Prof. Upendra Baxi's name which was proposed by the Acting Chair (a Former Supreme Court Judge)
- 5 people supported a second name
- 2 people opposed both names and proposed some other alternatives
No one formally recorded their disagreement with the name proposed by the Chair. Even if the matter had been put to vote, there would be a clear 9-7 majority. Following the norms of these meetings, one can presume a 14-2 majority, since even the members who proposed the second name accepted the decision of the Chair.
The proceedings of the meeting have been recorded and the Vice-Chancellor can share the same with the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court in order to rebut the false allegations being made in some quarters.
a) DU people
b) consti/human rights scholars
c)lefties
So my money is on Ved Kumari or Kamala Sankaran, rather than an NLU alum. I doubt if Baxi and Dhanda have even heard of an IP scholar like Srividhya Raghavan, let alone read her work.
Summary: he isn't possibly the tallest legal scholar produced by India without 'knowing' things for which you and I might not give him credit.
Some opposed baxi very strongly citing his age and health as a pretended reason. The real reason is that a particular group will now try to controll the selection of the new VC through Baxi.
The mighty 3 overpowered the minnows although thay had the majority.
After years of marginalisation this was their only chance to have their say, if that too is denied, what shall they do, just sign the minutes as presented by the ....or fight for their rights?
The process was undermined in the meeting.
Any candidate from the Anti-FM side is expected to further dilute the standards, with partisan appointments and removals.
2. Ved Kumari - vc NLUO to NALSAR
3. Kamla Sankaran - former VC NLU Trichy
4. Pritam Baruah - BML Munjal Dean nalsar alumnus, Oxford PhD, ex jgls prof. good young choice
5. Balakista reddy, nalsar registrar insider
6. Nigam, NLS registrar
7. SKD Rao, NLU Delhi VC if wants to return home
Don't get me wrong - in all my interactions with Prof. Baruah, he's come off as congenial and knowledgeable - but he is far from qualified/eligible for the post.
Even at JGLS, he had literally become a Professor last year, and he has a long way to go before his position as an academic scholar is deemed comparable for a VC position at any major college.
Pritam's an Oxford BCL but his PhD is from UCL. He may not have enough experience as a full professor yet but will be an excellent choice in the future.
How far are Ved Kumari and Kamla Sankaran from retirement? They're not going to appoint someone on the verge of retiring.
But I know what Dam is hinting at. A jealous faculty member at NUJS had objected to Shamnad on that ground. It's a matter of record which the NUJS RTI records revealed. But this jealous person was shot down by bigshots in the EC (in those days, some of the country's top lawyers and judges were on the EC).
What is this? Is Prof. Baxi going to be a contender for VC, or is he going to help you find one?
Also, in Liang's case he couldn't be considered because of his predilection for kissing students against their wish.
In the end, it will probably between 3 Vs who are all VCs of NLUs: Ved Kumari, VC Vivekanandan and Vijay Kumar. I think Ved Kumari will be the favourite.
HON’BLE SHRI JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, B.Sc., LL.B.
Born on 30th November, 1961 at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Father, Shri Dr. B. N. Sharma apart from being known as a well established agriculturalist was also a renowned professor of Jabalpur University and subsequently the Vice Chancellor of Barkatullah University, Bhopal. Mother Smt. Shanti Sharma was a Principal in Maharani Lakshmibai Higher Secondary School and also worked as District Education Officer at Jabalpur before retirement. Started schooling from Christ Church Boys Higher Secondary School and passed 10 th standard and 12 th standard from Central School, Jabalpur. Enrolled as a student of Bachelor of Science in 1979 at Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar. Secured degree of Bachelor of Science in the year 1981 with distinction in three subjects.
Awarded National Merit Scholarship for Post Graduate Studies. Enrolled as a student of law in Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar in 1981. Graduated on top of the class and obtained LL.B. degree in 1984 with three university Gold Medals. Enrolled as an advocate on 01-09-1984. Practiced in Constitutional, Service, Civil and Criminal matters before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur. Was appointed Additional Central Government Counsel on 28-05- 1993 and was appointed senior panel counsel by Government of India on 28-06-2004. In 2003 he was designated as a Senior Advocate by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at the young age of 42 being one of the youngest senior advocates of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Elevated as an Judge of Madhya Pradesh High Court on 18 th January 2008. Appointed as a Permanent Judge on 15th January, 2010. Justice S. C. Sharma is an avid reader and is also known for his contributions to various Universities. He is associated with National Law universities. He is also on the Advisory Board of National Law Institute University Bhopal and has published numerous research articles and papers.
I just hope the university can dodge a ball with [...], [...], [...] type characters who are mediocre at best and have a history who have a history of grouping with other mediocre people lower down the rung ([...], [...], [...] for instance). Hell, to me even [...] ('khaye ga, but karma karega' type character) or [...] ('sophisticated iMac type chor' character) would be better.
In any case, I really hope it's none of them and the university can get an outsider unbound by internal pettiness.
It’s shocking that even LI is comfortable in approving such defamatory stuff with zero application of mind.
From what I remember from my undergraduate days in Shamirpet, the propaganda actually came from the teachers who were least interested in doing their job such as actually taking classes, reading projects and actually doing something to help students. Based on what I am hearing, it is the same group which is pushing for some very questionable characters in the VC selection. They would obviously be very happy if the said Assistant Professor and several other junior teachers (who actually do their job with honesty and diligence) leave the institution. This group would much rather have a VC who turns a blind eye to rampant plagiarism by senior professors who free-ride off the work done by junior teachers as well as students and hands out promotions to people who have not updated their syllabus in more than a decade.
If the said Assistant Professor is building opinion against such characters, then more power to him. I hope he ignores the noise and stays on in Shamirpet for many more years to come. Especially after AD's retirement, the place needs people like him to hold the fort.
as per the regulation only one extension can be given, after that fresh selection process has to be conducted, no bar for the incumbent to reapply and be reappointed
so, in effect this search committee has as much utility as the INC president search committee
While FM has been a good VC, he was not the one who drove the changes in recent years; AD was at the fore. He just created an environment which allowed for this.
The VC need not be some great scholar. He just needs to create an environment for talented colleagues to prosper. I really don't see why Ballu doesn't fit this criteria.