Three law students- Debashish Kumar Panda, Deep Kumar Mohanty, and Dinesh Kumar Samanta have sought judicial redressal on unfair rejection of their memorial in a upcoming moot court competition to be organized by National Law University, Delhi.
The petitioners are students of University Law College, Utkal University, Bhubaneshwar and had participated in a Moot Court Competition organized by the NLU Delhi to commemorate 70th Constitution Day. After being notified initially of their selection in top 24 teams which were eligible to participate in the oral rounds, the team was excluded from the list in a consequent mail citing ‘error in the final list.’
However, it has been alleged that there was sheer discrimination on the part of the university by shortlisting ‘well known’ law colleges in the second list which faced rejection in the first list. They also attracted discontent on account of the vague explanation provided in the mail which mentioned-
‘..it is not known whether it was a human or a technological error’.
Furthermore, NLU Delhi has refused a re-evaluation and has adopted an indifferent attitude to inquiry mails, as stated in the writ petition.
The writ petition filed by advocate Satya Ranjan Swain, has also relied on Rule 24, Schedule II, Rules of Legal Education, 2008 of the Bar Council of India which stresses on the importance of moot courts in legal study. They have thus stated that the present case is grave and it is warranted in the professional interest of the petitioners that they may get a clarity on the same.
Since NLU Delhi is established under the National Law University, Delhi Act, 2007 (Delhi Act I of 2008), it has been argued that it henceforth falls within the ambit of “State” under Article 12 of the Constitution and hence subject to writ jurisdiction.
A copy of the petition can be accessed here Click