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There's a lot of hate that NLS receives, both from it's own students because of how hectic life is there, and from outsiders, largely due to their envy. The former generally pin it on Sudhir, who also saw protests against him recently (questionable if they fixed anything). But it makes one wonder if NLS would hold on to the tag of the best law school in the country if not for him.
Do NLS grads think they would be better off without him? Why, or why not? We've also heard he's had corruption charges against him- are any of it substantial? What about Rhodes, which ONLY NLS students are able to bag because of his lobbying? Or the funds that keep pouring in because of his contacts? Is there any possibility he'd leave or be thrown out in the near future, or is he here to stay for another couple of decades?
1. There would still be batches of 80 in BALLB. The program would not have expanded. New programs like LLB (3 year) and BA (Hons) wouldn't have started.
2. There wouldn't be hiring of so many faculties and so many faculties would not have migrated from different institutions to NLSIU.
3. The campus redesign and reconstruction wouldn't have happened.
4. There would be a lot of money still being swindled in different forms. That has been stopped to a large extent. We also wouldn't have JSW grants or Luthra Grant that we recieved.
The batchsize of 80, with very few faculty would ensure its a close knit institution. Academic rigour would be much lesser.
Here's a copy of the NLS Act : https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/7620?view_type=browse
18(3) states "The 1 [Vice Chancellor] 1 who shall be an academic person and a Professor of Law at the School, shall hold office for a term of five years, which shall be renewable by a resolution to that effect by the Executive Council or upto the age of retirement of the members of the teaching staff, whichever is earlier. Upon the expiry of this term, he shall continue in office until his successor is appointed and enters upon his office."
Where is the 10 years cap mentioned? Couldn't find it in the act at least.
You clearly don't understand what Sudhir fanboys think. That's all I can say, being one myself. In fact, I am the guy that brings up Paul Craig in relation to Sudhir regularly (and BTW let's start by getting our terms right: Sudhir did a 'DPhil': while Oxford PhDs are called DPhil, let's at least be precise with our terminology).
To elaborate: Universities need different kinds of leadership at different times. Menon was what was required for NLSIU at the beginning of its journey. He made innovations in legal education that were not there before. While his qualification background is unfortunate, it is not unforgivable, considering what he did - bringing in updated notions of what the teaching of law in India should look like in the modern age. As Sudhir himself says, Menon brought NLSIU 'onto the educational map'. Without that, Sudhir would have had no foundation to take it onto the international stage.
Meanwhile now, NLSIU needs something different. It needs people who will make it do the kinds of things that the best universities of the world do. It needs people with connections in the world's best universities. It needs to convert from a largely teaching-based uni into a Humboldtian university, the type that does research-led teaching. Sudhir is the best man in India to lead the university while it does that, head and shoulders above the overwhelming majority of his contemporaries. Is he the best possible university leader the world has ever seen? Probably not. But he is certainly the best we could have for NLSIU under Indian conditions.
Therefore, it would be much appreciated if you could please stop bringing up such malicious and silly arguments. If you want to bring up further malicious arguments, at least make the effort to use the full powers of your intellect to do so. Thanks and best wishes for the rest of your day. If this response was too long for your attention span (empirical evidence over the years has consistently shown that the kinds of people who bring up arguments like what you have done have serious attention span issues which cannot be put down to neurodiversity but instead to lack of effort), please do not hesitate to ask for milk and biscuits.
There are no corruption charges against him. Only some wild accusations made by clueless students on social media who do not understand how University finances work. There is legitimate criticism against the scale and speed of his expansion plan and the consequent problems such as overcrowding in the hostels. To be fair to the University, they have expanded the off-campus housing options and students from the postgraduate programmes and older batches should see that as the norm for the next 2-3 years. The construction of new hostels in the 7 acre plot (next to Ambedkar School of Economics) is the immediate challenge and he is doing the rounds with government officials and private donors to raise funds. It is evident as day-light that the ongoing redevelopment of the Academic Blocks (OAB and NAB) will take another year or so.
On the Rhodes Scholarships, I have personally interacted with both of the students from NLSIU who have secured them in 2025 and 2026 respectively. They have won the scholarship because of their authenticity, academic excellence and motivation. Let us not insult these bright young people by claiming that Sudhir 'lobbied' for them. In fact, the 2026 Rhodes Scholar was at the forefront of the recent student protests about hostel issues.
On academic standards, current NLSIU students can crib and complain as much as they like. The fact is that NLSIU now has the best possible faculty composition under Indian conditions. They still have to learn how to co-ordinate better for multi-section teaching and give more time to the students outside the classroom. Even Sudhir's worst critics accept that he has done a remarkable job with faculty hiring. The trick was simple. Hold selections for faculty positions every year and select people based on teaching requirements. On this count, the work done over the last 7 years (and counting) will outlast his two terms as NLSIU Vice-Chancellor.
- Near-zero alumni faculty
- Vindictive action by the admin against alumni faculty seeking reforms and accountability, like Sidharth Chauhan (left for NALSAR)
- Likes of Mrinal and Aparna teaching at NLUD. Likes of Shamnad Basheer and Sudhir Krishnaswamy himself teaching at NUJS. Bunch of others teaching at Jindal.
- Domination by a cabal of extremely mediocre TLC profs (disproportionately from certain parts of India) who barely have a 500-word essay to their credit, forget publications
- Grade inflation and high tolerance of slipshod, plagiarised work
- No QS ranking, fewer global tie-ups, poor website
- Stagnation, stagnation, stagnation
And then the haters are gonna go: "But no saar, things were better saar as we paid less fees and got higher grades" 🙄
My advice to the haters is to join Dharwad Law College, if this is your mentality.
Vindictive action (supposedly) has happened even under Sudhir's reign. It happens under every VC. What's your point?
Yes, there were alumni teaching elsewhere. So what? Are you suggesting that all NLSIU alumni should only teach at NLSIU?
Plagiarised work still takes place. Or are you suggesting that Sudhir, Mrinal, Aparna's batchmates had also submitted plagiarised work? Get your point straight. Same goes for grade inflation, are you suggesting that some of the younger alumni faculty had their grades inflated while they were studying at NLSIU? Or older alumni faculty too?
You can't keep saying that NLSIU before Sudhir was bad, but the product of those times are good enough as faculty to certify Sudhir's reign.
The admin chose to spring this information regarding this arrangement on the 24th of June, when trimester 1 is scheduled to start in 5 days, and onboarding is day after tommorow. Common batch snetiment is that this is due to a mix of senior apathy, as they only protested when their situation was subpar, and an admin which just wanted to push the problem as long as they can without solving it. Hostels could've been easily built, but corruption (no names) is a bitch, i guess. Sudhir definitely solved many problems NLS had. In the process, he caused 10 other issues.
Your seniors are to be blamed to a very small extent. But it is mostly Sudhir to blame. The University did not think this through. But at least they're providing off campus accommodation, which in many things is better than in campus one. Some of the faculty also stays off campus.
Bruh the land only came to us last year. Do you know how long approvals and construction takes in this country? That too with tendering and other processes which are necessary in public institutions. Hostels won't be ready till 2030 at least