Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, recently announced the possibility of a National Law School University, starting to function in Nagpur from next year. He was speaking at the Post Centenary Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the 135 years old District Bar Association here in the city.

“These Law Schools – one for each state, are to be set up as a part of central government’s plan in the country,” he added. The Minister’s enthusiastic speech earned him a standing ovation from the delighted lawyers attending the occasion.

Justice Sharad Bobde of the Bombay High Court and Justice VS Sirpurkar, judge Supreme Court – the two guests of honour – elaborated on their long association with Nagpur, and set the ball rolling by reminding the Minister that this proposal for setting up National Law School at Nagpur even enjoys the support of President Pratibha Patil and State Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan.

Seeking support from the lawyers in the country for his quite ambitious plans for wide-scale and far-reaching legal reforms in the country, the Minister firmly stated in his inaugural speech that Mahatma Gandhi had stated for effecting the change one should be the change himself. He also advocated judicial appointments by independent body and setting up a national judicial service on the lines of IAS, IFS etc. to enable all sections of society being a part of the system, particularly the talented lawyers at young age. He added that it will also help in ending “uncle judge” syndrome.

President of the D.B.A., Deepak Kolhe welcomed the guests and the gathering. General Secretary, Prakash Jaiswal proposed vote of thanks. Later in the afternoon, two symposiums were held as part of these celebrations. The first one “Role and Responsibility of Lawyers in Matrimonial Disputes” was addressed by Retd. Principal Judge, Family Court, Meera Khadakkar, present Principal Judge, Bhavna Thakkar, along with two lawyers- Padma Chandekar and Nivedita P Mehta. The other symposium was on “Where do we go wrong in conducting Sessions trial” and was addressed by Justices Arun Chaudhari and Prasanna Varale, Senior Advocate Subodh Dharmadhikari and Advocate Mahesh Singh.