Published On : Wed, Oct 9th, 2013

Maharashtra National Law University to be set up in Nagpur; gets cabinet approval

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RTM University Nagpur Educational Campus

Nagpur News: The city was bestowed with a special gift in the form of Maharastra National Law University  by the Maharashtra Cabinet on the occasion of EGS Minister Dr Nitin Raut’s birthday on Wednesday. The Government has also speeded up proposal to acquire about 40 acres of land near Nagpur University campus for the setting up of the University.

A relieved Dr Raut, who had ceaselessly pursued the matter with the Chief Minister and had insisted on bringing the prestigious school to the city, termed the decision as “a major achievement for the region.

The cabinet also approved creation of a special post of a Chief Engineer and 6 Executive Engineers in Vidarbha Intensive Irrigation Development Programme (VIIDP), a Rs 3,250 crore special programme launched by the State Government to remove the irrigation backlog of the region, informed Dr Nitin Raut while talking telephonically to Nagpur Today from Mumbai minutes after the cabinet nod to the Law University.

Related apparatus attached to the office of the Chief Engineer and the Executive Engineers of VIIDP including their staff and other resources have also been sanctioned at the Cabinet meet held in Mumbai, said the Minister.

The decision ends the uncertainty that was hovering for the past 2-3 years about establishment of the University in Nagpur while attempts were made to relocate it to other parts of the state. India has 14 such law schools with only one in every state.

Earlier, the then President of India Pratibha Patil had suggested setting up of the institute in Nagpur at a function organised by the High Court Bar Association here. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had also spoken favourably about the idea on the occasion. Later, pressure from Western Maharashtra leaders resulted in changing the decision and shifting the university to Aurangabad.

This was resented by all local representatives and ministers from the region including Dr Nitin Raut, Rajendra Mulak and Anil Deshmukh.

Taking up the issue in Parliament, Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar had said that Vidarbha and Nagpur have very few prestigious institutions and that the law school shouldn’t be taken away from the state’s second capital. He had said the people of Vidarbha were extremely agitated over the matter.

Muttemwar also wrote letters to both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister expressing anguish over the “injustice to Vidarbha” and requesting setting up of the institute in Nagpur.

Rohinikant Matey