Battle of wits at II JLU National Moot Court Competition 2018

The Second JLU National Moot Court Competition crossed all expectations in terms of grandeur and turned out to be a thrilling journey in a matter of three days. The inaugural ceremony took place on 16^th February 2018. The occasion had a very impressive league of esteemed guests including the Chief Guest of the ceremony, Shri. Shivendra Upadhyay, Chairman, State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh and Shri. C.S. Lodha, Senior Advocate and President, CESTAT Bar Association. The Ceremony also observed the gracious presence of the Honorable Vice Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) Anoop Swarup, Registrar, Prof. R. Nesamoorthy, and Dean, Prof. (Dr.) C.A. Gurudath on the dais.

Guest of Honor, Shri. Chandra Singh Lodha, in his eloquent speech, advised students to focus on skill building particularly to gain leverage in a fast changing professional environment. He enlightened the students about emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence making a huge impact in several dimensions of the practice of law and asked the students to be alert on such significant changes. He emphasized that at a young age, everyone must try to set benchmarks to accomplish specific goals in order to have clarity in their vision. Shri. Lodha termed a four point principle of combining information, knowledge, wisdom and sagacity to excel in the profession. He lauded the efforts of the University in bringing 40 reputed national law universities and premier law schools under the same roof.

Beginning of the day two of the II JLU National Moot Court Competition 2018 was a hectic one. 40 teams, on the basis of random allotment of draw, competed with each other in two rounds of prelims. The top eight teams qualified for the Quarter Final Stage which took place in the second half of the day.

Legal experts from bar, academia, corporate and public sector adjudged the prelims and quarter finals. It is pertinent to note that, there was no participation from the Jagran Lakecity University JLU School of Law in the competition and also none of the faculty members of the University was a part of the panel of judges to keep the competition absolutely fair.

The last event of the second day was a colorful cultural evening presented by the students of JLU School of Law. The sensational performances by the students added a different color to the intense day of competition. Bhangda dance performance brought the energy in the auditorium and a melodious musical performance enchanted the gathering. Act of the day was the staging of the famous Shakespearean play ‘The seven stages of life’ which was lauded by everyone.

The Grand Finale followed by the Valedictory Ceremony of the II JLU National Moot Court Competition which took place on February 18, 2018 embedded a lasting impression in the memories of everyone present on the occasion. Honorable Justice Mr. Sushil Palo, Judge, High Court of Madhya Pradesh, Shri. KTS Tulsi, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and renowned senior advocate of Supreme Court of India, Prof. (Dr.) P.S. Jaswal, Vice Chancellor, RGNLU Patiala, Honorable Shri. Awadhesh Pandey, Member, MP Commercial Tax Appellate Board and Shri. Ashish Lakhtakia, Company Secretary and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Edelweiss General Insurance Company were the Judges of the Final Round of the competition and graced the dais during the Valedictory Ceremony.

Shri. KTS Tulsi in his valedictory address, asked every law student to exhaust themselves in the challenging and competitive domain of litigation at least for a decade to fulfill their dreams in future. He shared many interesting anecdotes from his own life to signify the role that hard work plays in the life of a professional. He said that, with the advent of path breaking technologies, one must not forget to stick to the basics of learning law; which comes through rigorous study of books and journals. According to him, a budding lawyer must focus on instilling wisdom and the wealth will come to her/him naturally.

Honorable Chancellor, Shri. Hari Mohan Gupta told aspiring lawyers to learn ‘what not to argue in the court.’ Commenting on the importance of confidence, he urged everyone not to be afraid of challenges and obstacles which will ultimately enhance the pleasure of accomplishment. Before ending his address, he made a massive announcement in the august presence of reputed luminaries that, in the year of 2019, Jagran Lakecity University, JLU School of Law will take a giant leap by organizing the JLU International Moot Court Competition.

Honorable Pro Chancellor, Shri. Abhishek Mohan Gupta, Honorable Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) Anoop Swarup, Registrar, Prof. R. Nesamoorthy, Dean, Prof. (Dr.) C.A. Gurudath, Prof. (Dr.) Vivek Khare and Director, JLU-School of Law, Prof. (Dr.) Yogendra Srivastava graced the Valedictory Ceremony with their august presence.

Earlier, in the first half of the day, Semi Final Round of the competition took place in which following teams competed:

• NALSAR, Hyderabad

• Christ University, Bangalore

• GLS Law College, Ahmedabad

• HNLU, Raipur

In the semis, advocates of Supreme Court of India and senior academicians judged the rounds and selected Christ University, Bangalore and GLS Law College, Ahmedabad to compete for the title in the finale.

During the final round, intense argumentation by both the teams kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Finally the winners were announced and the list is as follows:

• Best Team – Christ University, Bangalore (was awarded with a Trophy and prize of Rs.1.5 Lacs)

• Runner-up – GLS Law College, Ahmedabad (was awarded with a Trophy and prize of Rs.1 Lac)

• Best Speaker – Mr. Aryan Shastri, NALSAR, Hyderabad (was awarded with a Trophy and prize of Rs.25,000)

• Best Memorial – School of Law, KIIT, Bhubaneshwar (was awarded with a Trophy and prize of Rs.25,000)

• Best Researcher – Mr. Arun Kumar, Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai (was awarded with a Trophy and prize of Rs.25,000)