NLU Assam New entrant to the NLS family

The establishment of the National Law School and Judicial Academy, Assam (NLS&JAA) marks Assam’s entry into the club of states which are home to the national law schools. The NLS&JAA is modeled on the lines of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore which is the premier national law school. 

The establishment of the National Law School and Judicial Academy, Assam (NLS&JAA) marks Assam’s entry into the club of states which are home to the national law schools. The NLS&JAA is modeled on the lines of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore which is the premier national law school.

The NLS&JAA aims at being the torchbearer in the field of legal education by developing higher learning of the law. It will also start a unique one year compulsory induction training for newly recruited judicial officers. For this purpose, the training institution is named Judicial Academy and will function like a separate faculty in the proposed law school.

The institution has been established by ‘The National Law School & Judicial Academy, Assam Act that is Assam Act XXV of 2009. The Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court will be the President (Chancellor) of the law school.

The NLS&JAA is scheduled to start functioning from August 1, 2011. Admission into the B.A.LLB (Hons.) programme of NLS&JAA can be secured by appearing in All India Entrance Examination to be held on June 19, 2011. Overall only sixty seats will be offered in one batch with 25 percent being reserved for the students of Assam. The Application Form is available on the University website. Last date for the receipt of the application forms is June 6, 2011.

There has been an increased interest in the study of law with the mushrooming of various ‘National Law Universities’ over the last decade. This can be seen with the number of students writing the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) rising by almost 8,000 in the current year itself. In 2011, 24000 students appeared as compared to 16,000 in 2010.

Given this increased interest, the time for the establishment of NLS&JAA could not have been better with more and more students now choosing law as a career. What drives this renewed interest is the 100 percent placements with the seven digit pay packages which the first few national law schools achieved. Over the course of time the opening of more colleges like Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL, Patiala), Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU, Lucknow), Chanakya National Law University (CNLU, Patna) in 2006 had created the same expectations amongst students.

The disastrous episode of the CNLU placements a few months back, where CNLU students had to go on a hunger strike on recruitment concerns raises many issues about the benefits of establishing new national law schools.

In the midst of the euphoria around national law schools one should not forget that there already exists a plethora of law colleges across India. The issue with most of the law colleges is the quality of infrastructure and faculty. Therefore, it is important that the new institutes focus on building infrastructure and recruit faculty. The challenge is to maintain the quality in legal education as quantity was never an issue!