SILF president Lalit Bhasin told Legally India that former Nalsar Hyderabad vice chancellor Singh was chosen for the award, which is named after its first recipient Professor NR Madhava Menon, because he had introduced advocacy into legal education and took quality legal education to new heights.

The new “most innovative law teacher” award would go to Dr Shashikala Gurpur, who is the director of Symbiosis Law School and the Dean of the college’s Faculty of Law.

VM Salgaocar College of Law in Goa will be honoured with the “institutional excellence award”.

The “posthumous distinguished law teacher” award would be awarded to Professor AT Markose, who was the first director of Indian Law Institute (ILI).

The awards ceremony will be held in New Delhi on 10 September following India’s national teachers’ day on 5 September.

In 2010 the law teacher of the year prize went to Professor Mizanur Rahman, faculty of law Dhaka University and chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Bangladesh, and to Menon in its 2009 inaugural year.