Law

This is significant funding for India's first such law school-led initiative. The VAP was conceptualized to reinforce representation, support, and the overall role of victims vis-à-vis the adverse criminal justice system through academic rigor combined with field engagement at the grassroots level and litigation support. It's an action project aimed at mitigating the crime-related difficulties at the grassroots level through expert legal intervention, counseling, and sustained community mobilization.

Why the Victim Advocacy Project Matters

It is very challenging for victims of crimes to get through different hurdles in court procedures and most often do not get the necessary legal aid and assistance. It is due to this that VAP tries to fill such gaps at every level of the legal procedure through systematic, professional, and sustained support in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Key Goals and Impact - Next Three Years

• Victim Support: Represent and support over 450 victims of crime at every stage, from the FIR stage, investigation to trial, appeal, and rehabilitation.
• Capacity Building: Develop a cadre of specialized litigation fellows and paralegals who will receive focused training in victim rights, court procedures, and trauma-informed engagement.
• Professional Mentorship: Ensures quality representation in a manner sensitive to ethical concerns through professional mentorship by leading senior advocates.
• Systemic Reform: Providing timely, evidence-based information to inform and support efforts for legal reform, policy enhancement, and increased institutional accountability. Scalable Model: Based on research and field practice, it will deliver a replicable and scalable model for victim advocacy-one which will then be leveraged across the country. 

A Transformative Vision for Law and Society While highlighting the importance of the said project, Prof. (Dr.) G.S. Bajpai, Vice-Chancellor, NLU Delhi, said, "This project represents a sea change in impactful ways that law universities can engage with society. With the Victim Advocacy Project, we are advancing not just research and training, but also justice, dignity, and empowerment on behalf of those who need it most." This, in effect, underlines the commitment of NLU Delhi to bridge gaps between legal scholarship and social impact as it furthers its reputation as a national leader in the domain of criminology, victimology, and justice reforms. 

Support in this regard from the Azim Premji Foundation underlines the timely requirement of well-resourced, victim-centric interventions. Thus, the grant will facilitate a multi-tiered program involving: Legal representation Counselling and psychosocial support Community engagement Training and capacity building Research and documentation This strong partnership reflects a shared vision in furthering equity, justice, and responsiveness of institutions in India. About CCV, NLU Delhi The Centre for Criminology and Victimology is India's premier institution dedicated to research, policy engagement, and training in criminology, victimology, and criminal justice reform. Through extensive national and international collaborations, CCV continues to contribute to pressing debates on policing, penal reform, victim rights, and restorative justice.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Election Commission on pleas challenging the Special Intensive Revision in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, but asked the petitioners why they were so apprehensive about the exercise.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said a constitutional authority was undertaking the voter clean-up exercise and there could be a functional deficiency that could be rectified.

"Why are you people so apprehensive? They (Election Commission) have to answer all such issues and they will. Some deficiencies will have to be rectified and so it's a case of rectification of deficiencies," the bench said.

"Look at the monsoons. It's not a uniform thing. Heavy rain happens during the time of this exercise in the state. The flood relief too will have to be managed by the BLOs. Tamil Nadu is an agricultural state so most people will not be available," he said.

"Christmas vacations will be declared, and most families will not be available to participate. There will be Pongal, which is celebrated in the state," he added.

To this, the Supreme Court said, some deficiencies as far as smooth conduct of SIR was concerned should be rectified. "It's a case of rectification of deficiencies. It's not a case in your favour." the bench said.

Sibal said that till now, only 4,000 forms under the form distribution phase had been digitalised out of 3.94 crore forms.

"If this is taken into account, lakhs of forms will not be able to digitalised. Period of filing of claims, objections and notice will overlap. Why this great hurry we don't understand. We all want the system to work. We are only giving suggestions," he said.

After the arguments, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Election Commission and granted two weeks to it for responding to the issues. The Court will hear the matter again on November 26.

The Supreme Court also sought a response from the poll body on an application filed challenging the just-concluded SIR in Bihar, where Assembly polls are underway.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan said, "The application seeks to direct the poll body not to determine citizenship since they don't have the authority."

He said the poll body was not releasing the 2003 voter list to the voters in Bihar. "If my family members' names are there, I should be able to see it in the list," he said.

To this, the Supreme Court said, "If you lock your house, it can still be broken, but would that be a justification for not locking the house? The Election Commission is entitled to have layers of privacy on the data."

 The poll body will publish the draft electoral rolls on December 9 and the final electoral rolls will be published on February 7, 2026.

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."

The submission was made on behalf of Broadband India Forum before Justice Amit Bansal during the hearing of the copyright infringement suit by Asian News International (ANI) against OpenAI.

Broadband India Forum, a think tank working on the development of the broadband ecosystem, on Friday said that freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 of the Constitution includes the right to receive information and AI tools like ChatGPT cannot be restrained from using media reports/original data to answer user queries.

The submission was made by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal before Justice Amit Bansal during the hearing of Asian News International's copyright infringement suit against OpenAI.

Opposing the grant of any interim injunction against ChatGPT, Sibal said people have a fundamental right to the best means of imparting and receiving information.

"The right to receive information is a specie of the right of freedom of speech, an expression guaranteed under Article 19, a citizen has a fundamental right to use the best means of imparting and receiving information. It is the citizens right that is being violated. You say that 'no you can't access what I put in public domain without any restrictions'," Sibal, who appeared for the think tank said.

ANI's suit claimed that OpenAI was using its original content to make money and to train ChatGPT to answer user queries. In its reply, OpenAI stated that copyright protection in news reporting is very narrow, since there exists a greater public interest in dissemination of information.

The Court has earlier heard many intervenors in the case, including the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) which accused OpenAI of infringing the rights of media organisations by training ChatGPT on the basis of online news reports.

Today, Sibal submitted that the application seeking interim injunction against ChatGPT cannot be allowed as facts about the working of Large Language Models (LLM) are not there before the Court.

"Politician gives a speech in 1980. News channel records it. Access is available. In 1992, he gives another speech. A speech to the contrary. Most people will not have access to it. LLM will answer by prompt. Data cannot be copyrighted. Injunction cannot be granted as facts are not before you," he said.

Sibal said the technology is still evolving and that Court must not injunct the change.

"The copyright law couldn't have envisioned that large language models could be conceived in this fashion and being used for the purposes of change. Change is inherent in every aspect of life. You can't injunct change," he said.

The senior counsel argued that the decision should be according to constitutional rights, even if it is a commercial dispute.

"Please have Article 19(2) of the Constitution. None of the exceptions apply. I am entitled under Article 19 to protect my right to access information. It is my fundamental right," he added.

He said that restricting the same will amount to violation of free speech under Article 19.

"The public has right to access. A person who sought that prompt has a fundamental right to find out about the contradiction. How will anyone research if someone has contradicted himself in a speech. If there is any law that restricts this right, it will be a violation of Article 19," he told the Court.

Sibal also contended that the mere act of storage would not infringe the provisions of the Copyright Act.

"The purpose of LLM is not to reproduce. The intent to store is to use the data. I must reproduce under Section 14 for copyright infringement. Act of storage is not an infringement. What do I store? A speech, a math formula, data on climate and reproduce it, is it a copyright if I use it for progress of science?," he submitted.

In his arguments, Sibal also reflected on the use of paywall by news organizations to regulate access to news on their sites.

"How do you stop the circulation of ideas? If you say, whatever I have on my channel, you can't even look at, you can restrict it. It is all commercialisation, gone are the days of freedom of speech. I want to read an article from Indian Express, I can't. It is the only vehicle of political discourse so essential to democracy," he submitted.

Sibal said there was an element of public interest in the promotion of LLMs because people can now have access to information very fast.

"Earlier we had to go to libraries, now we can get information in a jiffy. So much easier now, this should be supported. You can't stall progress. At this stage, granting any kind of injunction will destroy the very process of change which is inevitable."

The senior counsel also argued that what is involved in this matter is an issue of public policy.

"How different jurisdictions in the global community use AI in the context of their peculiar interests and concerns is a matter of policy. Different jurisdictions may use it differently. The matter of policy is really in the domain of government," he said.

At this point, Justice Bansal asked: "If the intent of the state is to encourage LLMs and use of artificial intelligence, what prevents the State from amending the copyright law?." Sibal said that the government might do so. Earlier, Senior Advocate Arvind Datar also argued for Broadband India Forum. He submitted that any injunction would cause irreparable harm as LLMs enable the public, particularly in India, to have access to wider information. The large language model helps a lawyer, may help a doctor, a student appearing for a UPSC exam, he added. "You can have transient storage. The LLM is accessing and integrating. Application for injunction should be dismissed. The Courts have held that in IPR matters, the nature of dispute may not be only between parties, it can have larger ramifications," Datar said. The next date of hearing in the matter is November 21. Today, the Court said another date for the hearing would fall sometime in January 2026. The suit was filed in November 2024.

The Allahabad High Court upheld the validity of an order of the Government on the basis of requirements of minimum necessary qualifications for a post of assistant teacher in a recognised junior high school.

As per the GO, candidates applying for the post of assistant teachers would need to have a graduation degree from a university recognized by the University Grants Commission, along with a teachers training course approved by the state government or the National Council for Teacher Education.

The observation came from a two-judge bench headed by Allahabad HC Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra while hearing a special appeal filed by the state government against the judgement dated September 24, 2024, reports PTI.

In the judgment in 2024, a single judge of Allahabad HC allowed the writ petition submitted by Yashank Khandelwal and nine others, and set aside clause 4 of the government decree dated September 9, the same year.

Clause 4 of the government order dated September 9, 2024, prescribes the minimum eligibility criteria to be satisfied for appointment to the post of assistant teacher in a recognized junior high school.

A writ petition was filed to direct the respondent authorities to permit the petitioners and such other candidates to seek admission to a two-year Diploma course known as DElEd conducted at the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), based on their Intermediate Certificate Examination or an equivalent qualification.

It also aimed at quashing the impugned government order prescribing graduation as the eligibility criterion for admission to the two-year Basic Training Certificate course.

After hearing the parties, the division bench observed that a peruse of various rules and provisions shows that apparently at first instance, they relate to the appointment of assistant teachers in basic schools, where ‘training’ has been given due importance.

It further noted that even for a training course recognized by the government or any training qualification notified by NCTE to teach Classes I to VIII, the intent of the law is that only graduates are eligible for appointment. "Therefore, if the State Government in every Government Order right from 1998 till today has prescribed graduation as minimum qualification for taking admission in B.T.C./D.El.Ed. course, the same being in consonance with the Rules of 1981 and not said to be an arbitrary provision," added the Court. With all those observations, the single judge's order dated September 24, 2024 was set aside, and the respondents' writ petition was dismissed.