– Ronita Torcato 

Land has been earmarked for the Mumbai campus of the Maharashtra National Law University ( MNLU) which currently shares space with MTNL’s Centre for Excellence in Telecom Technology and Management (CETTM) in suburban Powai. 

Funds have also been allocated for the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar campus, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced at the inauguration of the new administrative block of the MNLU in Nagpur.

The Chief Justice of India, Bhushan Gavai, who is also chancellor of MNLU, performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the library building. 

The Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) serves as the governing institution of MNLU which is the 19th National Law University established in India.

The Maharashtra government had taken the decision to set up three National Law Universities (NLUs) at Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Mumbai nearly a decade ago under the Maharashtra National Law University Act, 2014. 

A decade after, the three varsities have yet to operate at full capacity.

It may be recalled that Nagpur was all set to get the state’s first National Law University (NLU) when the demand was raised by Nagpur High Court Bar Association president Anil Mardikar and endorsed by the then President Pratibha Patil, Chief Justice Mohit Shah and then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan at the HCBA Platinum Jubilee celebrations on February 6, 2011. 

However, the Maharashtra government decided to shift the campus from Nagpur to Mumbai. Consequently, the High Court and District Bar Associations of Nagpur staged protests and filed a PIL in the Nagpur High Court. This resulted in the state government setting up the NLU in Nagpur with Justice Sharad Bobde, 47th Chief Justice of India as founder-chancellor. 

Since inception, the university has offered a five-year integrated B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) programme, one year LL.M. programmes, M.A. in Mediation and Conflict Resolution, and post graduate diploma programmes in numerous disciplines. 

Now, Nagpur is scheduled to host the country’s first museum of law and a hostel for the LGBT community.

However students complain of the lack of basic necessities such as electricity, Wi-Fi and hostel accomodation.

Despite paying ₹3.65 lakh per annum for hostel accommodation, first-year female students are forced to reside at an off-campus hostel in Dongargaon with the promise of being relocated to the main campus in due course.

Till such time as that happens, female  students must endure eve-teasing, lack of privacy and health risks; issues which have been communicated to the management. 

Speaking at the inaugural function CM Fadnavis acknowledged the prevalence of “challenges like cybercrime and cyber breaches” but “Artificial Intelligence offers opportunities. Students must endeavour to bring positive changes to the legal field through technology,” he said, while assuring them of the government’s “full support to make this university the best in the country.”

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