Paying reverence to Founder Chairman Late Baldev Raj Mittal, Lovely Professional University (LPU) organized 1st annual BRM National Moot Court Competition at the campus, through its School of Law. Organized from 29th to 31st March 2018, the competition witnessed elite presence of Hon’ble Justice Raj Shekar Attri of the High Court; Chairman, Human Rights Commission Punjab & Haryana, Hon’ble Justice Ansari; Senior Judge at Sri Lankan Court of Appeal His Lordship Justice AHMD Nawaz; and, Supreme Court Advocate from Chennai Dr Prabhakaran. Lovely Group’s present Chairman Mr Ramesh Mittal and LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal welcomed all the visiting dignitaries from the law, legislature and legal arena.
The theme of the moot court competition was “Public Interest Litigation (PIL)” in Supreme Court- (i) to amend Sections 377, 309, 497, 375 and (ii) Indian Penal Code, Section 3 of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. The event sought to integrate the academic potential, legal insight and art of advocacy among the law students from prestigious Law Schools/Universities of the country. The competition judged the mooting, drafting abilities, and argumentative abilities of the participants. The competing teams represented the best in the country; some of these were from National Law Universities & Institutions from the top cities of the country including Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Ranchi, Bangalore, Lucknow, Noida, Jaipur and more. The competition winning team from NLSURL, Ranchi got Rs 25k cash prize and a scintillating trophy. Also, Roopali Goyal bagged the best student advocate trophy and a cash award of Rs 5k in this competition.
Visiting legal authorities inspired law students to be always fearless in their delineations and pursuits. The lives of the law students should always be involved with law and they should always be a student of law. They should see that ‘Law’ has to keep pace with the changing time be in accordance the emerging needs of the society. Congratulating all at the helm of affairs of the competition, LPU Chancellor Mr Mittal invoked law students to see that justice is done at all levels to the global society, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or nationality. Law students should be ever ready to come forward and work hard on legal grounds and positivism to make the society problems free.” Head of the LPU Law School Mr Shailesh Haidi informed that the theme of the moot court this year has deliberately been selected keeping in view the changes needed in the Indian Constitutional Law and the related awareness among students about this.”
Illustrative, ‘Moot court’ is an extracurricular activity where participants (Mooters) from top law schools take part in simulated court proceedings. These usually involve drafting memorials and oral arguments. Moot court does not involve actual testimony by witnesses, cross-examination, or the presentation of evidence. It is focused solely on the application of the law to a common set of facts to which the competitors are introduced. Depending on the competition, students spend a semester researching and writing the memorials, and another semester practicing their oral arguments, or prepare both within the span of a few months. Competing teams almost always switch sides, being applicant/appellant/claimant on one side, and respondent on the other, throughout the competition.
