IPTLS Career Workshop

At a time where AMSS is planning to downsize, becoming a lawyer with a leading IP firm or an IP policy maker seems to be far more exciting. All this and much more was shared by IP expert Prof. Shamnad Basheer, who is currently IPR chair at the University, in a talk on career options in Intellectual Property Laws. The talk, which witnessed an unprecedented turnout, was organized by the Intellectual Property and Technology Laws Society (IPTLS) on 28^th November.

In an extremely informal yet informative session, Prof. Basheer enlightened us about the myriad opportunities that lay ahead of us in this exciting field. Starting off on a humorous note, Prof. Basheer delved into the various forms of legal work in the field of IP. What could otherwise have been a boring session was considerably enlivened by Prof. Basheer’s many interesting titbits about the legal industry and practice.

Responding to queries, Prof. Basheer emphasized on a J.D instead of an L.LM especially in the field of IP and if working in the U.S. is on your priority list. He also cautioned the students about choosing foreign universities carefully, taking into consideration both general and specific field rankings. Prof. Basheer ended the session asking the students to follow their passions and assured them that the perks would follow automatically.

Workshop on Banning of Exit Polls

The Constitutional Law Society organized a workshop on ‘Banning of Exit Polls: An Attack on Freedom of Speech?’ The workshop was held in Room 006 on 27^th November 2008. Members of the faculty and students had an intense and extremely informative discussion over the various issues concerning the topic viz. accountability, credibility, the actual informative content of exit polls, the staggered form of elections and their possible impact upon the Indian voter. The legal aspect of the discussion revolved around reconciling the right to information, the right to freedom of free speech and expression and the right to free and fair elections.

Legal Aid Street Plays

The Legal Aid Society organized three Street Plays to raise awareness about important issues. The play staged at Parinati (a city based NGO) highlighted aspects relating to disability while two other plays staged at Chandanagore and Machlandpur dealt with women’s rights. Minor inconveniences like a bust diesel tank on the crew bus failed to deter our intrepid thespians as they wooed the crowd with their consummate art. The plays were also notable for the presence of two LLM students, and several non-Bengali speaking (as well as non-Bengali-understanding) students who managed to deliver their lines in flawless Bong.

Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat at NUJS

The concept of Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalat (PMLA) has been evolved by the National Commission for Women (NCW) to supplement the efforts of the District Legal Service Authority for redressal and speedy disposal of matters pending in various courts related to marriage and family affairs. Other advantages of the PMLA are that it is cheaper, it helps encourage the public to settle their disputes outside the formal set-up, it empowers the public (especially women) to participate in the justice delivery mechanism, and ideally, cases are amicably settled by the parties in a harmonious atmosphere. Interestingly, an award of the Lok Adalat has the same force as a decree by a Court of Law.

NUJS was the venue for a recent session of the PMLA, held on 7^th November 2008. This was actually the second time that NUJS hosted the PMLA, the first being way back in 2003. The event was efficiently and enthusiastically conducted by the Legal Aid Society, NUJS.

But NUJS students’ involvement was not restricted only to the event itself: research assistants from the University assisted in preparing brief case histories. In the weeks leading up to the event, they compiled files consisting of applications, relevant facts, findings of the Commission, etc., and in some cases even suggested remedies.

On the day of the event, proceedings commenced with a protracted inauguration session. Justice (Retd.) Ruma Pal, Malini Bhattacharya (Chairperson, NCW), and Prof. M.P. Singh (Vice-Chancellor, NUJS) were the guests of honour. They discussed the role of the NCW and praised PMLA as an effective and desirable way of settling disputes.

The proceedings themselves were fraught with interest. Retired trial court judges, NCW members and social activists sat in as judges in the four “courtrooms”. The cases scheduled for the day were mostly related to maintenance and Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. There was also the occasional mutual consent divorce case up for hearing. One unusual case involved a daughter who was filing a case against her parents for discriminatory treatment as against her brother.

The informal and amicable nature of proceedings was highlighted when, in a particular dispute, one party had an advocate who tried to plead the case, but the judges disapproved. They observed that PMLA was meant to be simple informal, not fraught with legal technicality.

In another case related to maintenance, the husband had initially said he could give no maintenance because he was unemployed, and later agreed to a figure of only Rs. 300. Judges, naturally dissatisfied with the paltry amount, were about to record a finding of non-disposal of the case, when at the very last moment the husband agreed to a figure of Rs. 1000. The case thus ended happily for all concerned.

There were even some lighter moments, such as when a certain Judge spilled tea over an order sheet.

The delegates from NCW professed themselves by and large satisfied with the arrangements and expressed their gratitude to the college for providing the venue. At the end of the day, pretty much everyone went home happy, except possibly some of the volunteers from college who did not get non vegetarian food packets. But then, nothing ever works out perfectly.

(With inputs from Shayonee Dasgupta)