Online Moot Court organised by BHU
Varanasi: The 8th Mahamana Malviya National Moot court competition which was scheduled to be held in the month of March was now conducted online due to the lockdown of the universities. The competition started on 26th June 2020 and concluded on 28th June 2020. The first day saw the Preliminary rounds where some of the top 18 law colleges of the country from more than 15 states argued before the judges.
The Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University organized this competition in collaboration with PSL Advocates and Solicitors. The event was supported by the International Chamber of Commerce, Young Arbitrators Forum. Further, the event was assisted by FTI Consulting as “Expert Partner” and EBC/SCC Online as “Knowledge Partner”.
Online Moot Court organised by BHU
The inaugural session was streamed online on YouTube, where The Head and Dean of Faculty of Law, Prof. RP Rai congratulated the students and all the participating teams for being able to be a part of this online competition in such tough times.
Ms Geeta Luthra a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India who was the Chief Justice of the Inaugural session said “Present pandemic must not only be taken as a low period, it can also be taken as an opportunity to do more research, better research, develop skills and develop better arguments and do a lot of activities like mooting”
Online Moot Court organised by BHU
Mr Sameer Jain, Founder and Managing Partner, PSL Advocates & Solicitors. In the inaugural session said “Apart from internship the closest thing to the reality of law, once you are studying in a law school, is a moot court is not exactly the real-life court proceedings but that’s the closest you can get while you are studying in a law school apart from internship”
On the 2nd Day of the 8 teams qualified for the quarter-final and further 4 teams reached the semi-final. At the end of the day, 2 teams Government Law College, Mumbai & Faculty of Law, Banasthali University (Rajasthan) made it to the final.
Online Moot Court organised by BHU
The final round was Judged by Hon’ble Justice Pratibha Singh (Judge, Delhi High Court), Hon’ble Justice Vibhu Bakhru (Judge, Delhi High Court) & Mr Abhinav Bhusan ( Director, South Asia, ICC Arbitration & ADR).
The valedictory session was graced by Hon’ble Justice Pratibha Singh, Hon’ble Justice Vibhu Bakhru, Mr Abhinav Bhusan, Prof. RP Rai (Head & Dean), Prof GP Sahoo, Mr Sameer Jain & The organising secretary Prof. Rajneesh Singh.
Hon’ble Justice Pratibha Singh in the valedictory session, remembering her days when she used to participate in moot courts decades back was happy to see the evolution of the mooting culture in the country from no computers to everything going online was a big achievement. She also talked about the idea of setting up an All India Moot Fund for the benefits of the students interested in mooting not only in India but also in other countries.
Hon’ble Justice Vibhu Bakhru mentioned that it was his first experience of an online moot court competition, he said that mooting gives a small window and a perspective to the participants of how court proceedings are.
Online Moot Court organised by BHU
The winners of the Moot Court Competition as announced by Prof Rajneesh Singh were Government Law College, Mumbai. The runner up was Faculty of Law, Banasthali University. The Best Memorial was presented to Symbiosis Law School Pune. And the best speaker was Divyesh Doshi from GLC Mumbai.
Prof. G. P Sahoo of Faculty of Law, BHU extended his warm greeting to all those involved in the Moot Court Competition.
