student strike

The administration of Army Institute of Law (AIL) Mohali has accepted several student demands, with students having now constituted an interim representative body and having been promised more student participation in the running of the college.

At NLSIU Bangalore’s first convocation under its freshly-baked vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy on Sunday also in attendance, alongside dignitaries galore, was Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman and senior counsel Manan Kumar Mishra, giving a rousing 10-minute speech.

NLSIU Bangalore’s students have called off their three-day-old strike about the delay in appointment of their new vice-chancellor (VC), after alumni are understood to have received an assurance that the relevant Supreme CLourt judges are expecting the process to conclude shortly.

Update 20:06: VC Prof Nishtha Jaswal has released a press statement, responding to some of the student demands, and reiterating some of the below points she had made during our interview yesterday.

Update 19 September 2019 01:59: HPNLU Shimla’s administration has effectively kicked all students out of campus after students did not stop protests as the administration had requested.

NLSIU Bangalore’s Student Bar Association (SBA) has taken the offensive over the (possibly) inexplicable delays in the appointment of Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy as its new vice chancellor (VC), with students wearing black bands today.

RGNUL Patiala students have now held a peaceful protest for the fourth night in a row since Friday, after a series of long-standing grievances had remained unaddressed by the administration, coming to a head over the suspension of six students.

Word has come in that the embattled HNLU Raipur vice chancellor Sukh Pal Singh has resigned, according to several authoritative student sources, though the official confirmation has not yet been supplied to students.

At HNLU Raipur 23 students began an indefinite hunger strike at 8am today demanding vice chancellor (VC) Sukh Pal Singh’s resignation, after six days of peaceful protests and a no-confidence motion signed by almost the entire student body against the VC proved unsuccessful in outing him from the law school.

HNLU Raipur students have passed a motion of no confidence and vowed to go on strike again to protest against vice chancellor (VC) Sukh Pal Singh, who has been reinstated after removal from the post has been stayed by the Supreme Court pending the fuller appeal.

NUSRL Ranchi's four-day lockdown protest in April had ostensibly achieved administration acknowledgement of many of the top demands of protesting students.

On 11 August, Bar & Bench had reported that NLU Delhi political science associate professor Dr Maheshwar Singh had gone on a hunger strike, alleging that his application for professorship three years ago had not been considered fairly without having even been notified of rejection.

Exclusive: The CNLU Patna hunger strike ended on Tuesday after assurances from Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of a meeting with the Chief Minister, and two law firms and a journal visited the campus to recruit, according to a student.

CNLU Patna students are reportedly protesting against the limited job prospects offered by the national law school.

The second part of Legally India's first anniversary round-up focuses on what has happened in a year of legal education and incredible mooting performances across the board. Plus, we pick India's best law school in India. Well, almost.

Panjab University law school students have called off a hunger strike after several hours as the University caved in to their demands.

The Times of India (TOI) reported today that the Panjab University Student Union (PUSU) and the Hindustan Student Association (HSA) called for a hunger strike to protest against the increase in minimum lectures, to decrease minimum attendance requirements and to reduce the chairman's power.

According to TOI, the students wanted the requirement of minimum lectures in each subject to be reduced from 70 to 33 per cent.

Additionally, the students called for the minimum attendance in an academic session to be reduced to 70 per cent from 75 per cent, allegedly in accordance with the Bar Council rules.

According to the Indian Express the dispute appeared to have come to a head last Friday (8 January) over various issues, including graduate LLM programme reservations for Panjab University students and migration fees to move to the university campus.

An editorial published in TOI today asked whether "Chandigarh cops [are] scared of student leaders", having dropped charges against PUSU leaders who allegedly attempted murder and fired gun shots against a student from another local university last summer.

If all this is true, it sounds like a veritable warzone out in Punjab law school community.

Any thoughts as to what is going on?

And if any Panjab University students would like to elaborate, please get in touch with us. I for one would be interested in hearing the full story behind this.

Last year we also reported on the hunger strikes and four-year battle of students at Hidayatullah National Law University Raipur (HNLU). [SEE NOTE BELOW]

I have received a request from an HNLU student to clarify that the HNLU strikes were organised for a completely different reason and motivation from the Panjab University protests. I would therefore like to state for the record that the two are not directly related except for the fact that both involved hunger striking law students. Apologies for any confusion caused.