Justice Sharad Bobde speaking at 14th ‘Justa Causa’
Nagpur: The Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar College of Law of the Rashtra Sant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University held the valedictory function of the 14th National Law Festival called ‘Justa Causa’ ( Just Cause) at the college premises today. This concluded four days of debates, moot courts, conferences and competitions among law students gathered in Nagpur from all over the country under the banner of Justa Causa.
It had dignitaries like Supreme court Judge Sharad Bobde, as Chief Guest,former SC Judge Justice Vikas Shirpurkar as Guest of Honour, RTMNU Vice Chancellor Dr. Sidharth Kane as Chairman and Dr. Shrikant Komawar, Principal of Law College, Nagpur on the dais.
A galaxy of High Court judges, present and former, such as Justice Bhushan Gavai, Justice Kishor Rohee, Justice Dharmadhikari, Justice Prasanna Wairale, Justice P.N. Deshmukh and Justice Deshpande were also present in the audience as were many distinguished lawyers of the city.
Delivering the ‘Justa Causa ‘ lecture of this year, Justice Bobde touched upon the theme of this year’s conference which was ‘Health laws of India’ to mention that 8 to 10% of Indians go below the poverty line every year due to the heavy medical bills they have to pay for medical treatment of family members.
“This is a very serious matter. There is nothing the judiciary can do about it directly but we hope the medical profession and the governments will deal with this issue and alleviate suffering of people, without rendering them dismally poor.”
He pointed out that Medical Practitioners should also avoid unnecessary surgeries, unnecessary tests and over medication which could be happening.
Turning to the topic at hand, he opined that events such as Moot Courts should be used to prepare lawyers for future assignments which could very well be in cyber crimes, international matters, and even Space issues.
VC, Justice Shirpurkar,Justice Bobde and Dr.Komawar on diars
“Times ahead will make lawyers learn to look at Globalization through a national lense. Look at BRICS for instance, a group of five nations like Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that has formed a unit for activities like Banking and international business. This group will control 30% of world’s land, 43% of its population, 20% GDP and 45% of world’s agricultural production. If there are any disputes within the group or the group against other nations, which laws will apply?”
He also said that superfast digitalization and advent of man in space will lead to new issues which may very well need to be tackled by lawyers. All this points to the need for modern, new subjects being tackled at moot courts.
Speaking earlier, Justice Shirpurkar, advised law students to not go in for cushy Corporate law positions or MNC jobs after graduating. He said, such jobs will seem financially lucrative initially but without regular law practice, others, less meritorious students will race ahead of you and become Magistrates, Judges etc. and you will end up petitioning them for dates! He also commended girls for joining law colleges in such large numbers.
Dr. Kane praised the legal profession and he said when he became VC of Nagpur Unversity his father advised him that he was actually becoming the Judge presiding over University matters and since then his respect for this profession had gone up.
Dr. Komawar, Principal of the law college expressed gratitude for help from all legal fraternity of Nagpur for making the event a grand success.
Also present on the occasion were Brigadier Vijay Kumar, Commandant of Institute of Military law, Col. Arun Kumar, Deputy Commandant and Major Sarika Pendalwar, Instructor. This unique Army Institute of Military Law, which is one of its kind not only in India, but all of Asia is soon going to come under the jurisdiction of Law College of Nagpur. Examinations will be conducted by the Nagpur law college and they will be part of other decision making too.
“This is a feather in the cap of our law college” said Dr. Komawar.
Dr. Aparna Panchbhai gave the welcome speech and Abhishek, a law student proposed a vote of thanks.
