CJI BR Gavai launches MNLU Mumbai permanent campus project initiation

The campus in Mumbai is the last one to come up among the three Maharashtra National Law Universities. A project initiation ceremony for establishing the permanent campus of the Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai was held at Pahadi, Goregaon (West) on November 5.

Chief Justice of India BR Gavai said during the function,

It is said, "MNLU Mumbai was the first one to be started, it is the last wherein the campus is being constructed. Nagpur campus as well as the Aurangabad campus were completed much earlier but it is said that der se aaye magar durust aaye and that I think aptly applies to the present project."

"I always said that the criticism is not based on correct facts. In my career as a judge for 22 years, I have seen the public works department in Maharashtra being transformed. You have many buildings being constructed for the district courts for the tehsil courts at various places. Be it Nashik, be it Kolhapur, Amravati, Nagpur.we inaugurated a building at Nashik and I must say that it is a building which could rival any corporate office.I have travelled across various parts of the country and the infrastructure provided to the judiciary by Maharashtra is one of the best and I must pay compliments to the government of Maharashtra for that."

On the judiciary needing support from the other wings of democracy, Justice Gavai said,

"I'd always disbelieved the practice of isolation because in my view, all the wings of the democracy-the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature-they exist for the welfare of the citizens of this country. It is always said that the judiciary has neither the power of sword nor the power of purse and unless the executive is on board, it is difficult for the judiciary to provide adequate infrastructure to the judiciary as well as the legal education."

Addressing the students of MNLU Mumbai, Justice Gavai said,

"Law is an evolving, organic, developing branch. Everyday, new challenges are there.in our days, the law colleges as has been said in the Malimath Committee Report, were the factories for producing half-baked lawyers. That concept has undergone a paradigm shift. Now the law education is based on practical oriented training. When I attend the moot court, at times I feel that the students are arguing much better than the lawyers arguing before the court. Therefore, the infrastructure plays a very important role."

Commenting on the proposed infrastructure of the MNLU campus he said,

"We look forward to converting it into an international law university."

He also urged students to join litigation, where "real pleasure" lies.

"Maybe in a place like Bombay and Delhi there's a scope for specialized litigation. As Dr. Ambedkar used to always say, a lawyer is also a social engineer. He also has a role in bringing the social and economic justice, the promise of social and economic justice into reality. I am sure that the students who will be passing out from this University will pass out and become the social engineers, the torchbearers of the social and economic justice who have deep commitment to the values enshrined in our Constitution."