The kids aren’t alright: NUSRL student writes scathing letter to Jharkhand CM

A student of the National University of Study and Research in Law, (NUSRL) Ranchi has written an open letter to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand describing the abject conditions at the University..It is a letter that is quite scathing in both tone and content..Eshan Pandit, a tenth semester student, begins the letter by expressing his “overwhelming gratitude” for the support NUSRL has received from the state government. The difficulties faced by the students include frequent power cuts, lack of cold water in the summers and inadequate infrastructure – both physical and in terms of manpower..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Pandit says that the reason why he had decided to write the letter was that he did not want the junior batches to suffer as his batch did. He also said that NUSRL students have reached out to the CM a number of times, receiving assurances on each occasion but precious little else..The state government’s apathy has led to construction on the new campus being halted half-way. It is evident that the University lacks quality experienced faculty, with just one Professor (the VC) and no Associate Professor. The letter describes how the financial crunch means that the University cannot afford to pay for guest lecturers..NUSRL has faced financial problems ever since its inception, even though it charges the highest annual fees of all NLUs at 2.4 lakhs per annum. In an earlier interview with Bar & Bench, Vice-Chancellor BC Nirmal had justified the astronomical fees, saying that the state government was not providing the University with adequate funds..The letter, which also mentions the Chancellor (Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court), further states that campus recruitments have also taken a hit, with the University not being able to afford travel expenses for the recruiters. Students on educational loans have been particularly hard hit with the lack of recruitments..Pandit’s letter also highlights the working conditions of the support staff:.“They spend 9AM to 7PM working in harsh circumstances for the University at a whopping salary package of Rs 3,500 per month (what more could they expect). The standards are even less than MNREGA.”.The fact of the matter is that NUSRL is hardly the exception when it comes to a huge mismatch between expectations and reality. Other recent examples of national law universities that were have started without adequate infrastructure include DSNLU in Vishakapatnam, and the youngest NLU in the country, NLU Mumbai. And as long as State governments continue to set up such institutes without sufficient prior planning, this trend will only continue.