Law College Dehradun organized the most awaited ‘Smt. Sushila Devi Intramural Moot Court Competition’ on 8th April 2021 in a glorious way. Chairman of Uttarakhand Police Complaint Authority, Hon’ble Justice B. S. Verma was the Chief Guest at the Mega event while Hon’ble Chancellor of the University Shri Jitender Joshi graced the occasion as the Special Guest along with Prof. (Dr.) Rajesh Bahuguna, the Patron of Moot Court Society and Dean of Law College Dehradun. Around 250 students had registered for the competition. Hon’ble Justice B. S. Verma and Dean of Law College Dehradun Prof. (Dr.) Rajesh Bahuguna were the adjudicators in the final round.
The topic of the Moot Court Competition was ‘Amendment to Section 35 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act’ which was challenged in the Supreme Court. The concerned amendment empowers the competent authority to declare an individual as terrorist while previously only persons of an organization could be declared as terrorists. The first round was inaugurated on 22nd January 2020, and the Students demonstrated their splendid skills during the Moot Court, Client Counseling and PIL Drafting Competitions.
The teams that competed in the Final Round were, Team ZEUS, comprising of Mr. Rajat Gaur, Mr. Rahul Kumar and Mr. Yogi Chaudhary, and Team ALASTOR, comprising of Ms. Akansha Agarwal, Mr. Bhawartha Nikhade and Ms. Bhavya Sharma, wherein Team ALASTOR were the petitioners and Team ZEUS were the respondents. Each team had 45 minutes each to present their arguments. This included the submissions of both the speakers from a team and the time reserved for rebuttal/sur-rebuttal. No speaker was to reserve more than 25 minutes for his/her individual oral submissions. The Court Masters for the event were Ms. Gargee Mishra and Ms. Neetu Banduni. Both the teams performed rigorously, while the Bench questioned them on their submissions. The round definitely turned out to be very informative and enlightening for each and every person sitting in the audience, as the round turned out to be very enriching. The results for the event were declared in the Valedictory Ceremony, which followed right after the round and was to mark the end of the TRILEGAL LAW FEST, organized by the Moot Court Society, under the aegis of Law College Dehradun.
Right after the conclusion of the Final Round of Smt. Sushila Devi Intramural Moot Court Competition, the guests and the august gathering proceeded to the Seminar Hall for the Valedictory Ceremony. The ceremony began with the felicitation of guests and the lighting of the lamp, after which, everyone rose for the University Kulgeet. Prof. (Dr.) Rajesh Bahuguna, the Patron of Moot Court Society and Dean of Law College Dehradun stepped forth and introduced the Chief Guest for the day, Hon’ble Mr. Justice B.S. Verma, Former Judge High Court Nainital, Chairman, Police Complaint Authority, Dehradun. He also expressed his appreciation for the participants for putting forth a commendable performance. Hon’ble Justice B. S. Verma, in his address, shared words of wisdom with the audience. He stated that experience occupies a primary position in the field of legal profession. “Organizing successive Moot Court Competitions is a revolutionary and exemplary step of Law College Dehradun”. He further added that the participants in the final rounds displayed excellent argumentative skills and their arguments for and against the topic amply gave a glimpse of a veteran lawyer in them.
His note was followed by the most-awaited moment of the day, the result declaration. The results were declared by Prof. (Dr.) Poonam Rawat, Head, Law College Dehradun and Chairperson, Moot Court Society.
The results for the three competitions were as follows:
Intramural PIL Writing Competition:
- Winner: Ojasv Dev Jha
- Runner-up: Aditi Bansal
- 1st Runner-up: Ritu Bhandari
Intramural Client Counselling Competition:
- Winner: Team LUPIN, comprising of Disha Verma and Aditi Ranjan
- Runner-up: Team HAGRID, comprising of Tanya Joshi and Tanisha Thakur
- Best Advocate: Kanishka Vaish
- Best Client: Isha Bhardwaj
Smt. Sushila Devi Intramural Moot Court Competition:
- Winner: Team ZEUS, comprising of Rajat Gaur, Rahul Kumar and Yogi Chaudhary
- Runner-up: Team ALASTOR, comprising of Akansha Agarwal, Bhawartha Nikhade and Bhavya Sharma
- Best Counsel (Male): Rajat Gaur
- Best Counsel (Female): Anushka Jha
- Best Memorial: Team ZEUS
- Best Researcher: Tie between Rahul Kumar and Ayushi Singh
- Hon’ble Chancellor of the university Shri Jitender Joshi rewarded the winners with a cash prize of Rs. 30,000 and shields. He commended the winners and expressed hope that they would become successful judges and lawyers in future.
Those present on the occasion included Justice B. S. Verma, Chancellor Shri Jitender Joshi, Principal Dr. Rajesh Bahuguna, Dr. Poonam Rawat, Mr. Kumar Ashutosh, Dr. Anil Kumar Dixit, Mr. Ujjawal Kumar Singh, Dr. Vijay Srivastava, Mr. Ramakant Tripathi, Dr. Anjum Parvez, Mr. Abhiranjan Dixit, Mr. Kuljit Singh, Dr. Vaibhav Uniyal along with hundreds of students. The event concluded with the National Anthem which marked the successful end of the TRI-LEGAL: THE LAW FEST.
