National Law Institute University
National Law Institute University (NLIU) is a public law school and a National Law University located in Bhopal, India. Established in 1997 by the State of Madhya Pradesh, it is one of the first three law schools to have been established under the National Law School system. The university launched its first academic programme in 1998, with Indian jurist V.S. Rekhi as the Director.[3] Recognised by the Bar Council of India, the university admits 100 undergraduates each year through the Common Law Admission Test, who complete 15 trimesters before being awarded a combined B.A., LL.B (Hons.) degree. The post-graduate course offered at the University is the LL.M. degree.
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| Type | National Law University |
|---|---|
| Established | 1998 |
| Chairman | Chief Justice of India |
| President | Chief Justice of MP Highcourt |
| Vice-Chancellor | V. Vijayakumar[1] |
| Location | , , 23°11′13.4″N 77°21′48″E |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Red and yellow |
| Nickname | NLIU |
| Affiliations | UGC,[2] Bar Council of India |
| Website | www |
The university is a member of the Association of Indian Universities and the patron of the university is the Hon. Chief Justice of India. It works closely with the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, as well as the National Judicial Academy. Since 2009, NLIU has been home to the Rajiv Gandhi National Cyber Law Center, established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.[4]
History
It was increasingly realised by the professionals and academicians that the system of law teaching in India was thoroughly inadequate and unimaginative.[5]
Justice J.S. Verma had proposed the first National Law School at Bhopal. However, the proposal could not take shape. National Law Institute University was set up in Bhopal by Act No. 41 of 1997, the Rashtriya Vidhi Sansthan Vishwavidyalaya Adhiniyam or the NLIU Act, 1997.[6] The first programme was launched in 1998, and the courses commenced on 1 September 1998.[7]
The Masters in Law (LL.M.) programme was launched in 2007, with the first batch graduating in 2009. The establishment of Student Bodies, Academic Cells and associations commenced in 2002 with the establishment of the NLIU Moot Court Association.[8] In 2007, the university witnessed the establishment of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Cell (ADRC) and the Cell for Awareness and Research in Environmental Studies (CARES).[9][10] The Centre for Business and Commercial Law was established in 2008.[11] The University published the first edition of Indian Law Review in November 2009.[12] The NLIU Law Review was first published in 2010, and the NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law was first published in 2012.[13]
Campus
The NLIU campus is situated on the side of a hillock near Kerwa Lake on the Kerwa Dam Road, Bhadbhada in the city of Bhopal. The new campus complex has been designed to keep the environmental impact on the land to a minimum thereby creating a blend of natural landscape and modern architecture, including the Academic Block, the Auditorium and the Gyan Mandir - which houses the Library, The Comp Lab, Faculty Rooms, Debating Halls and classrooms. The university's sports facilities include a sports complex which houses a gym, facilities for table tennis, badminton, tennis, pool, other indoor games, two basketball courts, fields for volleyball and football. The hostels provide double rooms for the First years and single rooms from Second through Fifth year. The Nescafe outlet and the 'College' Canteen in the campus are the favourite haunts of the students during breaks and evenings. Rajiv Gandhi National Cyber Law Centre is the first of its kind established inside the NLIU campus.
Gyan Mandir
The entire campus is based around Gyan Mandir, which houses the three-floor library, professors' chambers, computer lab, mooting and debating hall.
Academics
The university is devoted to the use of modern methods of teaching and evaluation. It emphasises the advantages of learning through small groups in a clinical setting. The year is divided into three trimesters of 70 working days each. The lectures are accompanied by extensive teaching material prepared and consistently revised by the faculty. Use of audio-visual equipment, small group sessionals, computorials, externships, internal moot courts, simulation and other learning by doing techniques form the core of tuitional arrangement. The student is expected to write one paper in each course later followed by substantive dissertation in seminar courses. The cumulative effect is to make for an intensive environment of learning where the teacher and the taught co-operate in inquisitive exploration.
Rankings
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Law – India | |
| NIRF (2020)[14] | 17 |
In 2020, it was ranked 17th on the list of law universities by NIRF.[15]
Collaborations
The university has fostered and developed partnerships both at the national and international levels. The University's national and international collaborations include World Bank Projects on Environment Management and Capacity Building, World Bank Project on Land Management, the DFID Project on Police Reforms, Food and Agriculture Organization Italy's project on "Madhya Pradesh District Poverty Initiative Project Preparation Mission (Land Tenure and Administrative Component)". The National Research Projects which have been taken up by the university include the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India project on the Preparation of the reading materials illustrative of the requirements of patenting, an International Workshop on Patent Claim Writing, a series of workshops on patent claim writing, "Development of Computerised Expert System in Administrative Law", undertaken by the Govt. of M.P.
Other collaborations include NLIU's collaboration with IIIT on "Cyber Law and Jurisprudence", NHRC's project on "Water stagnation leading to death of Tribals in Balaghat", N.U.J.S., Kolkata project on State-Wise Profile of Criminal Justice Administration. M.P. State Road Development Authority Project on Legal Consultancy Services. The university is also involved in a research project in collaboration with United Nations Development Program (UNDP)India on ‘Examining and Strengthening Informal Justice Systems in Madhya Pradesh.
The Centre for Advanced Studies and Research on Intellectual Property (CASRIP) at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, offers scholarships to two students every year to attend a summer workshop on intellectual property. Fifteen students have been awarded this scholarship till date. Various other scholarships have been regularly endowed upon the students of the Institute which entitle them to financial aid, and training and internship opportunities.
The institution has been a partner institute for Surana & Surana National Trial Advocacy Moot Court Competition.
Publication
The NLIU Law Review is the bi-annual law journal published by the University. It publishes material on subjects of interest to the legal profession and aims at encouraging students to research and create scholarly writings of the highest quality. It is a medium through which the students can express their opinions and views on various legal and other related issues as per their analysis and understanding. The first issue of the journal was published in May 2010.
Student life
The co-curricular activities of the university are regulated and overseen by the various committees which are in existence. The following committees handle the main co-curricular activities taking place in the university. All the committees are run by students with a faculty in-charge. They have their own constitution and the students have been given the independence to formulate the working mode of these committee.
Moot Court Association
The Moot Court Association plays an important role in encouraging mooting activity on campus. The association has hosted various national level moot court competitions, including the Annual Inter-University Bar Council of India Trust Moot Court Competition and the Stetson International Law Moot Court Competition, along with the University's own moot court competition, the Justice R.K. Tankha Memorial National Moot Court Competition, the 3rd edition of which was successfully organised in 2009. The MCA organised 2nd NLIU-Justice R.K. Tankha Memorial International Moot Court Competition from 17 February 2017 to 19 February 2017 with a participation of over 30 National and International Teams.
The M.C.A. is also responsible for organising selections for the National Moot Speakers' Pool and National Moot Researchers' Pool, International Moot Speakers' Pool, Researchers' Pool and the fresher's pool specifically meant for the first years undergrad. students as well as the Client Counselling Pool, which are dissolved and re-elected annually. Only the students in the pools are allowed to represent the University in such competitions, which maintains the level of quality that NLIU holds essential to its status as a premier law school in India. The selection process of the M.C.A. includes general elections for II - V year representatives, and an M.C.A. induction debate for freshers. The M.C.A. also maintains the M.C.A. blog for its activities, managed by the M.C.A. executives for the students of NLIU.
Jus Cultura
Jus Cultura is the Literary, Debating and Quizzing Society of NLIU that plays an important part in the holistic development approach of the University. The society adopted a unique way of enriching budding debating talent through the concept of 'Fraturday Debating' where students from the University get a chance to debate with other students. Every year, the society selects students for the 2 on 2 and the 3 on 3 debate pool, through the NLIU Debating League, and the Quiz Pool through the Jus Cultura Quiz. The debaters from NLIU have brought much-deserved fame and recognition for NLIU on the National as well as International Debating Circuit, through active participation in various debates like the Worlds Debate, the Asians' Debate, the Mukherji Memorial Debate and the N.L.S. Debate. The society has given birth to many debaters in the University and is in process of making NLIU the hub of Debating in central India.
Alternate Dispute Resolution Cell
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Cell (ADRC) of National Law Institute University was instituted in the month of March 2007. Since its inception the cell has done commendable work under the guidance of the ADR Cell's Teacher–in-charge and the student members. ADRC has a 40-member strong team of able and committed students from all the batches of NLIU.
The ADR Cell of NLIU is currently the most successful ADR Cell at any Law School in the country. To date, NLIU has also been the one of the most successful Indian University at several International Mediation and Arbitration Competitions.
In 2008-09 the Cell also hosted India's Former President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam for his lectures at the University.
NLIU, in collaboration with International Academy of Dispute Resolution (INADR) hosts an annual International Mediation Tournament in November since last 7 years. This is the first of its kind to be held in India.
CRIL
The Centre for Research in International Law (CRIL) is a student run body at National Law Institute University, which was established with an aim to increase awareness of international law and policy among students. It seeks to ensure an active and inclusive atmosphere, in collaboration with various esteemed organizations wherein an interface between like-minded students and the extensive area of international law is created. CRIL is the official Bhopal Chapter of the International Law Students Association (ILSA) and was awarded the ILSA Best Academic International Event Award in 2011.
Athena
The cultural committee, Athena, organizes various cultural events within the University, including the annual intra-University events Palchin and Rang Manch. It has collaborated with SPICMACAY for promoting Indian art and culture among the youth. It has been host to artists like Maestro Ram Kumar, Ustad Zulfikar Syed, Pandit Kore, violinist T.N. Krishnan, Grammy Award Winner Padmashree Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and the Indian rock band Indian Ocean. It also organizes events such as the weekly film-screening.
Centre for Business and Commercial Laws
The Center for Business and Commercial Law (C.B.C.L.) came into being in 2008 and was instituted with the aim of facilitating corporate awareness and providing avenues for exploring the world of corporate and commercial laws. CBCL has been actively involved in undertaking various activities such as publishing monthly e-journals, organizing workshops, panel discussions, paper presentations and weekly corporate news bulletins.
Events concluded in 2009 include the C.B.C.L. workshop on legal drafting conducted by Shishir Vyattaden and Jitendra Tanikela associates, the in-house Paper Presentation Competition on topics involving Corporate Social Responsibility, Limited Liability Partnership and Companies Bill, 2009 and the International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility and Industrial Disasters.
Popularly known in the university as NLIU's Wall Street Journal, C.B.C.L. has been successfully carrying out the monthly e-journal incorporating the views expressed by industry experts, faculty members, research fellows, alumni and students.
Sports Committee
The Sports Committee has been active in retaining a sporting culture in the university and actively promotes sports such as football and volleyball. The committee picks teams to represent the University in various National and other inter-college events. It also hosts the annual sports fest of the University "Virudhaka" since last 10 years, making it the oldest Intra-Law school fest of the country.
Alumni Affairs Cell
The Alumni Affairs Cell has the student body working for the NLIU Bhopal Alumni Association. It assists and coordinates all activities that aim towards the development of a productive and lifelong relationship between the university and its alumni. The cell strives to communicate the interests and concerns of alumni, worldwide, to the university to encourage inclusive growth and commitment to excellence. The activities carried out by the cell include a monthly newsletter, alumni guest lectures and the annual alumni meet.[16]
Social causes
NLIU's partnership with NGOs in pursuance of the Supreme Court ruling pertaining to the distribution of compensation to the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy has been widely appreciated. The university adopted the village Kesla to provide legal assistance and creating awareness amongst the tribal block of the area. The students of the university had been actively associated with the Narmada Bachao Andolan and played an important role in helping the oustees in registering their grievances with the Grievance Redressal Authority (GRA). The university has to its name a partnership with the Bhopal District Courts in organising Lok Adalats, whereby students participate in settling disputes.
People United for Law, Education and Rehabilitation (PULER) is an initiative of the students of the University which aims at imparting legal education and spreading legal awareness, especially in rural areas. The cell has done a commendable job by organising part-time classes for children and adults in the neighbouring villages.
Gallery
Main gate
Campus
Gyan Mandir
Library
Hostels
Guest house
Gym
Fields and Courts
See also
References
- "Director". www.nliu.ac.in. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
- UGC, Recognized State Universities.
- Education Info India, List of Universities in M.P. (Last accessed 05/09 2013)
- Virudhika NLIU, About NLIU (2012) (Last accessed: 05/09 2013)
- NLIU Media Committee (2008), Director's Address, Originally penned by Prof. Dr. S.S. Singh (Last accessed: 05/09/2013 Available at: PunjabColleges.com)
- Madhya Pradesh State Legislature, National Law Institute University Act, 1997 (Last Accessed: 05/09/2013 PDF)
- College Information, Profile of the National Law Institute University (Last accessed: 05/09 2013)
- NLIU MCA, NLIU MCA Blog: "[The MCA] was established in 2002." (Last accessed 05/09/2013)
- NLIU Cares, History (2011).
- NLIU ADRC, About Us (2012).
- NLIU Centre for Business and Commercial Law, About CBCL (2009) (Last accessed: 05/09/2013)
- NLIU, Indian Law Review - Inaugural Edition (2009).
- NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Inaugural Edition - Cover (2012).
- "National Institutional Ranking Framework 2020 (Law)". National Institutional Ranking Framework. Ministry of Education. 11 June 2020.
- "MHRD, National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)". www.nirfindia.org. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- www.nliualumni.com
External links
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