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This article, like many others, was first published exclusively for long-term supporters, 2 hours before everyone else got to read it.

JGLS hires ‘unparalleled’ 104 new teachers, incl 27 NLU LLBs at Rs 20-40L avg pay

The new hires are primarily junior ones but include 2 profs, 3 associate profs

JGLS Sonepat bulks up to 9:1 student faculty ratio
JGLS Sonepat bulks up to 9:1 student faculty ratio

JGLS Sonepat has hired 104 faculty members in its law school starting in January 2020 improving its student-faculty ratio from 12:1 to 9:1, hot on the heels of the the grant of Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to it in September.

More than half of the hires - 72 - are made up of the more junior end of the academic ladder with 38 senior research associates and 34 research associates, which would be roughly equivalent to lecturer designations at national law schools .

The next greatest number of hires has come in with 27 joining JGLS at assistant professor rank (more on these designations and remuneration below).

Finally, at the highest levels of seniority are 3 new associate professors and 2 professors (see details of new hires below).

The new hires put the total number of Jindal Global University’s (JGU) faculty members available to teach at its law school at 328, for around 2,900 law students, according to the university’s press release.

“At a university [and law school] level it has already... 9 is to 1,” said JGLS founding vice chancellor Prof Raj Kumar about the student to teacher ratio, noting that this already far exceeded the Bar Council of India (BCI) minimum requirement of a student faculty ratio of 40:1. “We want to hover around 8 to 9 [to 1 ratios], because this is good enough to pursue our research and all,” he added.

Only five faculty members out of its total of now-328 faculty members at Jindal Global University’s law school had left in the last 12 months, noted Kumar. Law school student numbers would not increase in the next academic year, he said.

The hiring spree follows JGLS’ September 2019 hire of 75 new faculty members, of whom 22 had obtained LLBs from NLUs (as well as former vice chancellors (VC) Prof MP Singh, Prof Upendra Baxi, Prof BS Chimni and BB Pande).

Making the latest hires would enable JGLS to “qualitatively improve the entire experience of students: more research, more faculty engagement,” he said.

Hiring so many faculty members at one law school was “unparalleled in the history of legal education in India”, Kumar added in a press release, which seems a realistic claim, considering NLSIU Bangalore, for instance, recently advertised for only 13 faculty members for the first time 12 years.

New Profs

Prof Sam Garkawe is joining JGLS as a full professor from Southern Cross University in New South Wales, Australia, where he was an associate professor of law specialising in international and national criminal justice.

Garkawe also holds an LLB from Monash University, LLMs from the University of London and Sydney university, and a BSc from the University of Melbourne. Garkawe is also a California-qualified attorney and Australian barrister and solicitor and had worked in private practice, a legal aid lawyer and

The second professor joining JGLS is retired Supreme Court Justice and National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairman Swatanter Kumar, is joining as a “distinguished jurist professor” rather than a full-time role.

Swatanter Kumar was a practising lawyer from 1971 until 1983, when he was appointed as additional district and sessions judge in the Himachal Pradesh high court, and then resumed practice as an advocate in the Delhi high court until 1994 when he rejoined the bench at the Delhi high court, followed by Punjab & Haryana and the chief justice position at the Bombay high court in 2007. In 2009 he was appointed to the Supreme Court as a judge and on retirement in 2012 until 2017, he was chairman of the NGT.

In 2014, while chairman of NGT, he had filed a defamation case in the Delhi high court against several newspapers and a female lawyer, who had alleged that Kumar had sexually harassed her while she had been an intern. As of April 2019, that case had seen 19 hearings and adjournments, mostly to decide on what to do with the intern’s transfer petition to the Supreme Court.

It is understood that Swatanter Kumar’s position as distinguished jurist professor at JGLS would not be a residential or full-time position.

New associate profs + NLU grads

The three new associate professors joining JGLS are:

- Prof Dr Saurabh Jain (NLIU Bhopal LLB, LLM from University of Aberdeen, PhD from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand),

- Prof Dr Saumya Uma (NLSIU Bangalore LLB, LLM from University of Mumbai and University of Nottingham, and a PhD from NLSIU), and

- Prof Dr Sandeep Kindo (NLSIU LLB, an LLM from University of Notre Dame in the US, and a JSM from Stanford University and a PhD from University of Wisconsin).

In total 27 of the new 104 new hires, including the above, have LLB degress from Indian national law schools, with five each having undergraduates from NLSIU, NLU Jodhpur and GNLU Gandhinagar:

Faculty with LLBs from Number of faculty
NLSIU Bangalore 5
NLU Jodhpur 5
GNLU Gandhinagar 5
RMLNUL Lucknow 2
CNLU Patna 2
NLU Odisha 2
NLIU Bhopal 1
WBNUJS Kolkata 1
RGNUL Punjab 1
NUALS Kochi 1
NUSRL Ranchi 1
DSNLU Visakhapatnam 1
Total 27

Full list of all hires further below.

Tiers & pay scales: Around double UGC on average

Research associates and senior research associate positions at JGLS are approximately on par with lecturer positions at NLUs, explained Raj Kumar.

“Research associates for teaching law subjects are usually faculty members with LLM degrees,” added JGU director HR and chief operating officer (COO) Jitu Mishra. “Senior research associate and assistant professor positions are offered to faculty members who have some industry or teaching experience apart from the LLM degree.”

Meanwhile, associate professors and professors would be faculty members with “substantial teaching and research experience or who have distinguished professional experience in the field of law”, according to Mishra.

Salaries of all JGLS faculty members were “competitive”, “more than the UGC pay scales... decided on the basis of experience and qualification of individual faculty members”, said Mishra, with “research benefits comparable to the top international universities along with comprehensive health and accidental insurance coverage, accommodation near the University Campus, staff development allowance, research grants, research rewards for publications and other benefits”.

Raj Kumar added that while individual compensation levels of faculty were confidential, it was “accurate to say that the average cost to university (CTU) of Professors is Rs 40 lakhs per annum, associate professors is Rs 30 lakhs per annum, assistant professors is Rs 20 lakhs per annum,” excluding research and publication benefits.

NLSIU’s recent recruitment advert for professors under University Grants Commisssion (UGC) 7th Pay Commission bands were around Rs 17 lakh annum, around half the average at JGLS.

Associate professors at 13A pay band would receive Rs 15.8 lakh at NLSIU (again less than around half of JGLS’), while the assistant professors at the lowest pay band would be getting Rs 6.9 lakh per year at NLSIU.

Full list of new hires

Name of Hire Designation LLB LLM Other Qualifications
1 Prof. Justice Swatanter Kumar

Distinguished Jurist Professor of Law and Justice

Former Chairperson of National Green Tribunal

Punjab University - -
2 Prof. Sam Garkawe

Professor of Law

Monash University University of London; Sydney University B.Sc. (University of Melbourne)
3 Prof. (Dr.) Saurabh Jain

Associate Professor

NLIU, Bhopal University of Aberdeen

Ph.D. (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand)
4 Prof. (Dr.) Saumya Uma

Associate Professor

NLSIU, Bangalore University of Mumbai; University of Nottingham Ph.D. (NLSIU, Bangalore)
5 Prof. (Dr.) Sandeep Kindo

Associate Professor

NLSIU, Bangalore University of Notre Dame J.S.M. (Stanford University); Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
6 Prof. (Dr.) Vinod Kottayil Kalidasan

Assistant Professor - - B.A. (University of Calicut); M.A. (St. Thomas College, Kerala); M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
7 Prof. (Dr.) Anindita Jaiswal

Assistant Professor

NLU, Jodhpur NLU, Jodhpur Ph.D. (University of Edinburgh)
8 Prof. (Dr.) Wasiq Abass Dar

Assistant Professor

Pune University South Asian University S.J.D. (Central European University)
9 Prof. (Dr.) Aditi Singh

Assistant Professor

- - B.B.A. (University of Lucknow); M.B.A. (University of Lucknow); FPM (IIM Lucknow)
10 Prof. Raabia Abuzer Shams

Assistant Professor CNLU, Patna University of Essex -
11 Prof. (Dr.) Dhiren Borisa

Assistant Professor _ _ B.A. (Mohanlal Sukhadia University); B.Ed. (Mohanlal Sukhadia University); M.A. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
12 Prof. Prashant Gupta

Assistant Professor - - B.Tech. (Punjab Engineering College); M.A. (Pune University); M.Phil. (University of Delhi); Ph.D. candidate (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
13 Prof. Sagnik Das Assistant Professor NLU, Jodhpur Harvard University -
14 Prof. Kanishka Sewak Assistant Professor RGNUL, Punjab University of Turin -
15 Prof. Akmal Handi Ansari

Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

Universitas Sumatra Utara Universitas Sumatra Utara; Queen Mary University of London) -
16 Prof. (Dr.) Olayinka Oluwamuyiwa Ojo

Assistant Professor Ekiti State University Charles University Ph.D. (Ghent University)
17 Prof. (Dr.) Ishan Anand

Assistant Professor - - B.A. (Hons.) (University of Delhi); M.A. (Hyderabad University); M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
18 Prof. (Dr.) Anjana Thampi

Assistant Professor

- - B.A. (Hons.) (University of Delhi); M.A. (Hyderabad University); M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
19 Prof. Nidhi Sharma

Assistant Professor Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi NLIU, Bhopal

20 Prof. (Dr.) Gunjan Singh

Assistant Professor - - B.A. (University of Delhi); M.A. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
21 Prof. (Dr.) Mosarrap Hossain Khan

Assistant Professor - - B.A. (University of Burdwan, West Bengal); M.A. (University of Hyderabad); Ph.D. (New York University)
22 Prof. (Dr.) Prabhu Aloke

Assistant Professor

Cochin University of Science & Technology NLSIU, Bangalore M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
23 Prof. (Dr.) Niyati Sharma

Assistant Professor

- - B.A. (Hons.) (University of Delhi); M.A. (University of Delhi); M.Phil. (University of Delhi); D.Phil. (University of Oxford)
24 Prof. (Dr.) Lisa Thomas Assistant Professor

- - B.A. (Mahatma Gandhi University); M.A. (Kerala University); M.Phil. (Pondicherry University); Ph.D. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
25 Prof. (Dr.) Manmeet Kaur Assistant Professor

- - B.Com. (Hons.) (University of Delhi); M.B.A. (Amity University); Ph.D. (FMS, Delhi)
26 Prof. (Dr.) Biswanath Gupta

Assistant Professor

Tripura University WBNUJS, Kolkata Ph.D. (IIT Kharagpur)
27 Prof. Amit Upadhyay

Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi Freie Universitat, Berlin -
28 Prof. Neha Mishra

Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

University of Delhi NLSIU, Bangalore B.A. (University of Delhi); M.A. (University of Delhi); Ph.D. candidate (NLSIU, Bangalore)
29 Prof. Aman Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

NLU, Jodhpur Oxford University -
30 Prof. Radhika Chitkara Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

NLSIU, Bangalore Harvard University -
31 Prof. Dolashree K Mysoor Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

University Law College, Bangalore University College London -
32 Prof. Divyangana Dhankar

Assistant Professor of Legal Practice

University of Delhi - J.D. (University of New South Wales)
33 Abhimanyu Singh

Senior Research Associate

NUSRL, Ranchi The Australian National University

34 Devyani Mourya

Senior Research Associate

- - B.Sc. (Holkar Science College, Indore); MHRM (Mohanlal Sukhadia University); FPM candidate (IIM Indore)
35 Krittika Singh Senior Research Associate

GNLU, Gandhinagar Tufts University -
36 Savita Dahiya Senior Research Associate

- - B.Sc. (Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak); M.B.A. (Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak); Ph.D. candidate (IIT Roorkee)
37 Arijeet Ghosh

Senior Research Associate

GNLU, Gandhinagar University College London -
38 Maxime Chevalier Senior Research Associate

Universite de Rennes Stockholm University -
39 Santwana Dwivedy Senior Research Associate

NLU, Odisha Central European University -
40 Gautam Mohanty

Senior Research Associate

NLU, Odisha Central European University -
41 Anurag Bhaskar

Senior Research Associate

RMLNLU, Lucknow Harvard University -
42 Divya Tripathi

Senior Research Associate

B.Com. (University of Lucknow); MHR&OD (University of Delhi); FPM candidate (IIM Lucknow)
43 Dharmita Prasad

Senior Research Associate

NLU, Jodhpur University of Johannesburg -
44 Madhav Mallya Senior Research Associate

Symbiosis Pune McGill University -
45 Praggya Surana

Senior Research Associate

NLSIU, Bangalore Harvard University -
46 Jadumani Mahanand

Senior Research Associate

M.A. (University of Hyderabad); M.Phil. (University of Hyderabad); Ph.D. candidate (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
47 Bhavneet Kaur

Senior Research Associate

- - B.A. (University of Delhi);M.A. (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai); M.Phil. (University of Delhi);

Ph.D. candidate (University of Delhi)

48 Ayushi Agarwal

Senior Research Associate

NLSIU, Bangalore University of Oxford -
49 Sharmin Khodaiji

Senior Research Associate

- - B.A. (University of Delhi);

M.A. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

Ph.D. candidate (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

50 Ammar Hafeez

Senior Research Associate

- - B.Com. (University of Delhi); M.B.A. (Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi); Ph.D. candidate (IIT Roorkee)
51 Pulkit Taluja

Senior Research Associate

- - B.E. (University of Delhi); M.B.A. (IIM Kashipur); FPM candidate (IIM Calcutta)
52 Harsh Vardhan Bhati

Senior Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University Lewis & Clark Law School -
53 Nalamala Chandra Bhanu Murthy

Senior Research Associate - - M.A. (University of Hyderabad); M.Phil. (University of Hyderabad); Ph.D. candidate (University of Gottingen, Germany)
54 Divya Gupta

Senior Research Associate - - B.A. (Hons.) (University of Delhi); M.A. (University of Delhi); Ph.D. candidate (University of Delhi)
55 Josey Tom

Senior Research Associate - - B.A. (Christ University, Bangalore);

M.A. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

56 Rashmi Gupta

Senior Research Associate Amity University University of California, Berkeley -
57 Sriparna Dutta Choudhury

Senior Research Associate University of Delhi University of Cambridge B.A. (Hons.) (University of Delhi)
58 Surendra Kumar

Senior Research Associate

RMLNLU, Lucknow SOAS University of London M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
59 Nakul Nayak

Senior Research Associate NLU, Jodhpur University of Pennsylvania -
60 Abhisek Sur

Senior Research Associate - - B.Sc. (Hons.) (University of Calcutta);

M.Sc. (University of Calcutta);

M.B.A. (ICFAI Business School, Kolkata);

FPM candidate (IIM Ranchi)

61 Piyush Pranjal

Senior Research Associate - - B.Tech. (B.P. University of Technology);

M.B.A. (Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management);

FPM candidate (IIM Ranchi)

62 Sandrine De Herdt

Senior Research Associate Saint Louis University, Belgium Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium -
63 Aditi Singhal

Senior Research Associate - - B.A. (Hons.) (University of Delhi);

M.A. (University of Delhi); Ph.D. candidate (University of Delhi)

64 Aparajitha Narayanan

Senior Research Associate ILS Pune Leiden University -
65 Sahiba Maqbool Senior Research Associate University of Kashmir Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights -
66 Vaibhav Chadha

Senior Research Associate University of Delhi Queen Mary University of London) B.Com. (University of Delhi)
67 Varsha Mohan Senior Research Associate Christ University, Bangalore Tel Aviv University -
68 Shivangi Singh Senior Research Associate GNLU, Gandhinagar University College London -
69 Balu G Nair

Senior Research Associate WBNUJS, Kolkata Melbourne Law School -
70 Aparna Babu George

Senior Research Associate NUALS, Kochi University of Cambridge -
71 Krusha Bhatt Research Associate Auro University University of East Anglia, UK -
72 Tanya Goyal Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University Zhejiang University, China -
73 Medhavi Singh

Research Associate University of Delhi Pennsylvania State University -
74 Konina Mandal

Research Associate KIIT Law School University College London -
75 Bhavinee Singh

Research Associate

Nirma University

Emory University School of Law, Atlanta

76 Simran Bhinder

Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University University of Melbourne -
77 Malika Galib Shah Research Associate University of Kashmir University College London -
78 Rohit Sarma Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University Central European University -
79 Asmita Singh

Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University Humboldt University of Berlin -
80 Esha Rana

Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University SOAS University of London -
81 Shilpa Singh Jaswant Research Associate GNLU, Gandhinagar University of Hamburg -
82 Abhilasha Ramakrishnan Research Associate Karnataka State Law University King’s College London -
83 Mayank Kataria Research Associate Symbiosis Pune Queen Mary University of London -
84 Dhwani Mainkar

Research Associate Pravin Gandhi College of Law, Mumbai Queen Mary University of London -
85 Kanishk Rai Research Associate Bharati Vidyapeeth University King’s College London -
86 Abhinav Mehrotra Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University University of Leeds -
87 Surabhi Sharma Research Associate Symbiosis Pune Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights -
88 Mansi Rathour Research Associate - - B.A. (University of Delhi);

M.A. (Kurukshetra University);

M.A. (Leiden University)

89 Anjana Ramanathan

Research Associate DSNLU, Visakhapatnam Leiden University -
90 Mohammad Aquil Research Associate - - B.A. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

Ph.D. candidate (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

91 Shambhavi Shivani

Research Associate CNLU, Patna Trinity College Dublin -
92 Auroshikha Deka Research Associate KIIT Law School Queen Mary University of London -
93 Ayushi Vashisht Research Associate Army Institute of Law, Mohali Erasmus University, Rotterdam; University of Hamburg -
94 Jigisha Bhattacharya Research Associate - - B.A. (Presidency University, Kolkata);

M.A. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

M.Phil. (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta)

95 Malcolm Katrak Research Associate Pravin Gandhi College of Law, Mumbai Erasmus University, Rotterdam; University of Hamburg -
96 Samudranil Gupta Research Associate - - B.A. (University of Calcutta);

M.A. (University of Calcutta);

M.Phil. (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi);

Ph.D. candidate (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

97 Phil M Raju Research Associate Christ University, Bangalore Queen Mary University of London -
98 Aditya Raghu Rayee

Research Associate Bharati Vidyapeeth University Queen Mary University of London -
99 Aditya Gandotra Research Associate University of Jammu Queen Mary University of London -
100 Anmol Diwan

Research Associate Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi) USG School of Law -
101 Ashwathy Nair Suresh Research Associate TNDALU, Chennai University College London -
102 Shreya Shreekant Research Associate GNLU, Gandhinagar Queen Mary University of London -
103 Arunima Saraf

Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University O.P. Jindal Global University -
104 Karanraj Singh Bhatia Research Associate O.P. Jindal Global University London School of Economics, London -

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