Lawyers should say no to frivolous cases: C Raj
By PRABEER SIKDAR
DEHRADUN, 19 April 2009:
Professor C Raj Kumar, VC of the newly established Sonipat (Haryana) based OP Jindal Global University has an important task at hand in Doon. Kumar, who is a product of Harvard Law School, is touring some of Doon’s best schools to attract students for its five year law course to be offered in Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) from September this year.
The newly established JGLS, which also wants to be reckoned as one of the prestigious law schools in the country, would be introducing five-year BA LLB (after plus two) and three-year LLB programme in its 54-acre campus in Sonipat, Haryana (NCR) from this academic year. The course fee would be Rs 7 lakh per annum for a 3 year course, while it is Rs 6 lakh per annum for 5 year course.
JGLS would be formally inaugurated by the Chief Justice of India on 7 August, 2009. Among its future plans, by 2010, OP Jindal Global University would also start a School of Government and Public Policy on the lines of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Planning as well as a School of International Affairs by 2012.
During the course of his hectic schedule in the city (he visited 16 Doon and Mussoorie schools), he spoke to Garhwal Post about the vision of JGLS and various other legal issues.
Some excerpts
What is the mode of selection to JGLS?
Selections to the law courses would be based on merit ie on the basis of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) - India, which was created by US based The Law School Admission Council as a common admission test for entry into Indian law schools. JGLS is the first law school in India to adopt this test. The last date for registration for the exam is 27 April, 2009.
Why did you choose Sonipat as the location for JGLS?
For any law college, the ideal location is its proximity to courts. With Sonipat being quite close to Delhi, our students can have access to the High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India for their legal learning needs. We are also quite close to the District Court in Sonipat as well.
How is JGLS different from other law schools?
At JGLS, we would have institutional collaboration with prestigious law schools like Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, New York University School of Law, University of San Francisco School of Law, etc. We would facilitate student exchange programmes.
Won’t the high fee structure at JGLS discourage students?
Compared to normal law colleges, the fees of Rs 7 lakh per annum for a 3 year course, and Rs 6 lakh per annum for 5 year course, may appear high, but would definitely not be at the cost of quality. However, one silver lining is that, at the least, about 25 % of JGLS students would be covered under some kind of scholarships.
Where can they expect to get employment?
We are mainly targeting prestigious foreign and Indian law firms. We have already entered into MoUs with Indian law firms like Amarchand Mangaldas, Fox Mandal, etc. Similarly, we are also targeting the US and UK based law firms, which specialise in Corporate law, Trade law and Intellectual Property Law, etc.
It is said that good lawyers never teach. How are you going to tackle this?
Under the rules framed by the Bar Council of India, eminent practicing lawyers are also allowed to teach on part time basis. So, we are planning to rope in practicing lawyers in specialised areas like civil procedure, criminal procedure, arbitration, etc., on a need based approach.
Why is it that students of National Law Schools like National Law School of India University, Bangalore, NALSAR, etc., have never hogged the limelight?
The tendency for most of the law students in prestigious law schools has been to get into the corporate side in various legal firms. They also opt for other well-paying legal areas like Trade Law, Intellectual Property Rights, etc. As a result, most of them, despite earning handsome salaries, could not gain popularity among the masses.
However, they cannot be blamed due to the fact that the legal profession has opened many doors in the present market scenario.
There is a huge pendency of cases in the lower as well as higher judiciary in India? How do we control this?
Apart from increasing the number of courts and judges by the government, lawyers can also play an important role. If all lawyers outright refuse to appear in frivolous litigation, the pendency rate would come down drastically.
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