GNLU gets new campus 50 acre campus inaugrated on January 7 2012

Students at the Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar (GNLU) have much to cheer about with the inaugration of a state-of-art campus spread over 50 acres. The new campus, located on the “Knowledge Corridor” roughly 20 kms away from the city of Ahmedabad, was inaugrated on January 7, 2012..The inaugration ceremony was graced by several luminaries including Mr. M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India; Dr. Kamla Beniwal, Governor of Gujarat; Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat and Justice Anil R. Dave of the Supreme Court..The inaugration saw speeches by, inter alia, Hamid Ansari who cited concern about the increasing backlog of cases and also observed that the “public function” of law schools has vastly changed over the last six decades. Narendra Modi, in his speech, remembered Mr. Kirit Raval, former Solicitor General and Mr. Ashok Bhatt (Gujarat’s Minister of Health, Law & Justice when GNLU was formed) both of whom were instrumental in the establishment of GNLU. The State of Gujarat has played a crucial role in the development of this campus. The land was provided free of cost and the State government has borne the construction costs of Rs.150 crore..As per the press note released by GNLU officials, the campus is to house eight buildings, including a multipurpose stadium, a library and accomodation for the administrative staff and faculty members. Future plans include building of indoor and outdoor sports amenities, an ATM and a convenience store. Hostel rooms are now equipped with attached bathrooms while LLM and PhD students are to be accomodated in studios. Students are expected to move into the new hostels in a few weeks time..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Bimal Patel (Director, GNLU) said that the new campus would be equipped with various amenities and that the university would be incorporating the latest technology in their teaching methods including video-conferencing. He also mentioned that the University plans to construct the country’s first National Law Museum and emphasized on the need to have a multi-disciplinary approach towards the study of law. When quizzed about future plans, Patel mentioned that GNLU would soon be hosting “Pentagram”, the inter-college festival for law students..On being asked whether there is anything which sets apart GNLU students, Patel replied that the students of GNLU are known for their ethics and values. He also pointed out that students are mandated to work with State PSUs and courts, an exercise which he says gives the students a lot of exposure in the fields they would not otherwise have had access to..On paper, the GNLU campus has certainly set a new benchmark for law schools in the country. Coupled with the fact that GNLU was one of the biggest gainers in CLAT 2011, it will be interesting to see how these changes affect GNLU’s position in our upcoming law school rankings..(Photos and inputs courtesy Nikhil Varshney, GNLU)