Madhya Pradesh CJ & ors call for new NLIU Director, form fact-finding committee

More than a week after students of the National Law Institute University (NLIU) Bhopal began protesting the state of affairs at the law school, Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and Chancellor of NLIU Hemant Gupta has called for a new Director to head the University.

The same was resolved after a delegation of students met with Chief Justice along with Justice JK Maheshwari of the High Court, Advocate General of the state Purushendra Kaurav, Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha and Principal Secretary of the State Legislative Department AM Saxena.

After hearing the grievances of the students, the Chancellor directed that the process to find a new Director be expedited. He also appointed Additional District and Sessions Judge Giribala Singh as the new Registrar of NLIU.

Further, it was ordered that a Committee consisting of Additional Chief Secretary of the state government’s Higher Education Department, and the Principal Secretary Saxena shall undertake a fact-finding enquiry into the allegations made by the students of NLIU and,

“…suggest measures to address the grievances of the students and improve the Administration/Management of the Institution including examination and evaluation procedures and submit the report by December 25, 2017.”

Last week, the students had called for the ouster of current Director Prof SS Singh, and continued their protests after a breakdown in communication with the administration.

In the meanwhile, Prof Singh is yet to officially resign; according to sources at the University, he has taken voluntary leave. However, it does not seem that his tenure as Director will be renewed for a third time.

It will be interesting to see what the fact-finding comes up with next month. For now, it seems that the students’ demands are finally being heard.

Read the minutes of the meeting between the students and the Chief Justice of the High Court: