Nyayacharya Deepika a Seven Days Online FDP
Nyayacharya Deepika, a Seven Days Online Faculty Development Programme began on 26th May 2020, the topic for which was ‘Methods and Techniques of Pedagogy and Legal Research’. Rev Fr Josekutty PD, Principal Kristu Jayanti College inaugurated the FDP and also spoke about the relevance of research for the teachers. He also emphasized on how these unprecedented times has pushed us to use technology as a medium of meeting and also stated the importance of optimizing this opportunity of making knowledge more democratic and available to people across the country.

Prof Dr Mohan Rao Bolla , Principal Kristu Jayanti College of Law while giving a prelude to the session referred to the report of Canadian committee of Legal Research and Methodology which states that the law teachers must involve in constant research and he also emphasized on the importance of having a very good library in a Law College.

Day 1
Resource Person- Prof.T.S.N. Sastry, Vice Chancellor, TN Dr Ambedkar Law University, Chennai.
Topic - Teaching and research techniques in law
Prof GSN Sastry pointed out that when it comes to the teaching of law subjects there is the problem of the absence of the structural course pattern for the curriculum and suggested that new pattern must be introduced. Teachers must inculcate techniques of the legal research. By stressing upon the importance of the legal research, he said that till 19890, China had very poor quality of the legal research but later it introduced new models in education due to which it now has several of the most efficient and research based institutions in the world and it has achieved all of it just in a span of less than 12 years. He also suggested that India has eminent academicians, judges and has full potential to become the best. He observed that the teachers must be involved in the process of making the syllabus and he also spoke about the need of making inter-disciplinary teaching an important part of the pedagogy. He commented that teachers ‘are not experts’ in their subjects because the LLM education lacks quality at different levels and hence suggested that correction must be made at that level first. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

Day 2
Resource Person- Prof. Ajay Kumar, Professor and COE, Chanakya National Law University, Patna.
Topic- Legal Research and Pedagogy
Prof. Ajay Kumar began his talk by saying that research plays a pivotal role in life of a law teacher. He said that Review of literature is very necessary before going further with research. Research design must be properly drafted and honest work is required as well as no deviation from the research design should be allowed. He suggested that Scholars should go for either applied or the fundamental research. Sir stated that proper identification of the problem should be the first step taken by the researcher and it should preferably be an area in which the scholar is interested in. Clarity of the problem is also very necessary. He also stressed on the importance of analyzing the Data properly and justifying the hypothesis. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

Day 3
Resource Person – Prof. YF Jaya Kumar, Former Principal, College of Law, Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Topic- Legal Research Methods
Sir began his talk by stating that idea or the perception or observation is necessary for research. Conceptualization of the idea has to work towards that result and it needs to organize idea in a systematic manner. He told that the purpose of the legal research is to be understand first and thn the further steps should be taken up such as evaluating the existing law, knowing the functioning of the law in order to understand the legal reforms, making a comparative analysis with the other legal systems, to guide the reasonable judgments, to implement the laws etc. He explained that the steps in the legal research involves formulation of the research problem, formulation of the hypothesis and research design, collection of data ,analysis of the data, report writing. He said that the researcher must avoid conducting research in the well settled area of law, and must be away from the hidden agenda, personal social sexual and professional bias etc. He suggested to opt for the pilot study which involves preparation of the bibliography, studying similar works done, visiting of the libraries for the search of resources, collection if samples, collection of published statistics, consultation of the resource persons, and research supervisor etc.

Speaking about the importance of the formulation of the hypothesis, he spoke about the importance of the relationship between the variables. He said that the research design helps in forming the boundaries of the study, detecting the object of the study, confirmation of the methodology, to be used, preparation of the interview questions, and detection of the samples to be taken. Strategy of collection of data, fixing of the time schedule, and the mobilization of the financial resources. In conclusion he emphasized on the importance of taking all the steps of research seriously and to conduct research in a systematic manner. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

Day 4
Resource Person – Sri. P.V. Surendranath, Senior Advocate, Supeme Court of India, New Delhi.
Topic- Legal Education, Teaching and Research
Stressing upon the significance of the legal research, Sir told that the ability to conduct legal research is essential for the law academicians. He said that it helps in the understanding and analysis of a concept and to identify the relevant facts and determines the legal issues that must be researched. Legal research also helps to decide as to where, how, and what to search. As they find seemingly relevant legal materials, they must understand them and how they apply to the facts of their case. This research provides a crucial analytical foundation that will inform their decisions for the remainder of the case. In conclusion he stated that Law schools are a place where the idea of research can be inculcated in the minds of the students and the correct way to go about it can also be explained to them and hence research must be a crucial part of Legal education. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

Day 5
Resource Person-Hon’ble Justice Ram Mohan Reddy, Former Judge, High Court of Karnataka.
Topic- Administration of justice in India
Hon’ble Justice began his talk by saying that the Constitution of India has laid a foundation for a single, integrated judicial system in India. The Constitution lays down the structure and defines, delimits and demarcates the role and functions of every organ of the State including the Judiciary and establishes norms for their interrelationships, checks and balances. Independence of judiciary is one of the basic structures of the constitution and is very important for the rendering of justice in a fearless and impartial manner. He also said that the Supreme Court and the High Courts of the various states act as the as the custodians and watchdog of the Fundamental Rights by often coming to the rescue of the public by pronouncing various important judgments. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

Day 6
Resource Person - Prof. Annam Subrahmanyam, Dean, School of Law, Vel Tech University, Chennai
Topic - Legal Research and the Public Interest Litigation
Sir began his talk by saying that research is very Significant for the growth of the Institution, Faculty members, Scholars, Students etc. while discussing the steps involved in the Legal Research he said that it involves Selection of Research Topic and pilot study, deciding its Objectives, Scope and extent, formulation of a Research Problem, opting of the suitable Methodology, framing of the Hypothesis, looking for the Sources of Data, Literature review, Limitation of the study and the Scheme of presentation . He also discussed about the Scheme of presentation of research work which involves Introduction, Historical development, Existing law, Law pertaining to the topic, Recent developments, Judicial decisions, Modifications to the subject of research, Challenges to the research subjects, Findings, conclusion and suggestions. Speaking about the role played by the Public Interest Litigation (hereinafter referred as PIL) he said that the Objective of PIL is ‘to securing justice, political as well as social, to the extent possible to the economically and socially handicapped., administrative and other political machinery work in a way subservient to the interest of the general public and to bridle the law enforcement machinery itself to move towards social justice’. He said that there are many advantages of PIL such as- it is not individual oriented but the public at large, it acts as a deterrent to public officers to do certain acts which they do not do knowing at times, it helps in making the Government more vigilant, the petitioner is not required to pay Court Fees (and has to only pay a small nominal fee for the filing of PIL) and the Courts are more assertive in PIL than in traditional actions. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

Day 7
Resource Person- Hon’ble Justice P.S. Narayana, Former Judge,High Court of Andhra Pradesh
Topic- Legal Literature and Research.
This session marked the end of the week long Faculty Development Programme organized by Kristu Jayanti College of Law, Bengaluru, wherein several eminent spokespeople interacted with participants from across the country to help broaden horizons and to expand and diversify legal education among them.

The introductory bit was initiated by the resource person who began by introducing himself to the participants and give insights about his early life and by brushing through some of the highlights of the books he has authored over the years. Sir, in his lecture said that legal academic experience and judicial experience together is a rare combination to exist but when it does, it can make wonders happen in not only one field, but in several of those at once. This ‘deadly combination’ as he put it across, is not easy to achieve and does not come to most people organically, but one can certainly master the art of the same by way of dedication, devotion and discipline in their daily life by creating a routine for themselves. He further added that unless a person is able to put in constant effort, the likelihood of creating this balance is not only highly improbable but also almost impossible. In order to achieve this combination himself , Shri P.S. Narayana enlightened the participants by telling them what he personally did and encouraged them to do the same, which is waking up early in the morning and devoting the first couple of hours to research, both judicial as well as educational. He said that after his brisk walk every morning, he would sit for hours at a time before the claims started coming in or he had to head to work but that time had only increased manifold, thanks to the ongoing lockdown. Sir said that this is a habit everybody should form and that he had been practicing it himself for the majority of his life, while also pointing out to the fact that there will be duties and responsibilities attached to the same and it really depends on the individual how well they can balance their lives. Throughout the course of his lecture Sir kept emphasizing the importance of dedication and added that only with dedication can one keep on the path of effective and efficient research.

Talking about the methods of research, sir elaborated on his close observation that several law institutes carry on publication activities without much verification of the subject matter and the language used in the same. He said that in reality, due to these actions, there arises a massive gap between theoretical research and a more practical approach. Delivering this, he questioned whether such techniques are useful for all purposes or only for limited ones and left it to the judgment of the participants to answer. Sir pointed out that one among the several problems of the aforementioned legal publications, especially journals, is their substandard quality arising as a result of the popular yet under qualified people and their professional failure because of the same, which runs on neither healthy nor sound lines and hampers, sometimes even negates editorial excellence in the process. Sir suggested improvements n the same.

Another aspect of the discussion revolved around forms of citations from across the several courts Sir has worked in. In his 40 decades as a Judge, there have been a plethora of decisions cited. But most of them, on careful analysis, were completely different from the actual view of the presiding Judge (or Judges as the case may be). This happens mostly because the citations point to only a part of the judgment and not the whole of it, thereby giving it a highly restrictive perspective to look at. This dichotomy exists between academic institutions and judicial institutions as well and there exists a need to coordinate the two. Coordination is therefore extremely essential as far as legal research and its methods are concerned, however, it seems very difficult due to various reasons. To overcome this, progress achievement is one thing that would help. Better research techniques would thus largely improve field of law in the country.

Shri. P.S. Narayana concluded his session by taking questions from the participants and answering them quite precisely. He recommended the blue book method of citation and gave valuable insights on making a few changes in the existing system of legal education in India so that a more research based and practical approach can be adapted by the students, thereby making them much more confident advocates in the initial stages of their practice as such a system would most certainly produce lawyers who would already be trained to handle real life situations with utmost grace and dignity as a result of all the holistic education and development they were imparted with. The session ended with the queries raised by the participants.

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Faculty Development Programme & Webinar
Day 1
Resource person: Prof. Dr. Ishwar Bhatt
Topic: Judiciary and Covid
Prof. Dr. Ishwar Bhatt began with emphasizing on ‘Right to health’ and the role of the Court in guaranteeing the same. He further explained the various Constitutional provisions which focus on the protection of health. He spoke about the different initiatives taken by the Courts in order to protect the interest of the vulnerable groups such as women and children. He specifically mentioned about the remarkable work done by the J&K High Court which gave very important directions with respect to domestic violence and safe guarding the rights of women. Other appreciable orders protecting the pregnant women and safeguarding the rights of the children who are prone to violence and abuse was also discussed in detail. He even mentioned about how the Court stepped in to protect the interest of the health care workers. He mentioned about how the Court augmented the domestic production of protective kits for them in order to meet the rising need. He finally spoke about the different ways in which the Supreme Court has been functioning in Covid times.

Day 2
Resource person: Hon'ble Justice Dr. Arijit Pasayat, former judge of the Supreme Court of India.
Topic: The Significance of Environment Protection
The Chief Guest started his session with the quote, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, and we borrow it from our children”. He went on to speak about the significant of water as a sacred element and the water flowing through the streams and rivers is the blood of our ancestors. He then presented a report that most of the patients admitted to the hospitals are due to water pollution.

According to him, India has many legislations relating to the protection of the environment that can make India the least polluted country in the world. But due to the ineffective implementation of these legislations our country’s environment is degrading. He then talked about article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The article talks about the right to life and personal liberty. This article ensures the citizens the enjoyment of life. It talks about environmental protection and the balance of the ecosystem. It ensures hygienic living conditions for all the citizens i.e. clean air to breathe and safe water to drink. Hon’ble Justice then said that the time has come wherein protecting the environment and development should go hand in hand. Development without caring about the environment is not good for us humans. He also added that nature won’t tolerate any more environmental depletion and it will retaliate and the way in which it retaliates won’t be pleasing and it will affect all of us in a negative manner.

Day 3
Resource person: Justice S Nagamuthu, Former Judge of the High Court of Madras
Topic: Trials of Sessions cases
Justice S Nagumuthu began with explaining the important provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (herein after CrPC). He explained about S. 7 of CrPC which talks about the territorial divisions with respect to jurisdiction and the division of any district into sub districts. He went ahead and explained about the difference between S. 209 and S. 323 and stated that S. 209 comes into play when the offence is committed to the Court of Session and when the offence is exclusively triable by it. Whereas S. 323 of CrPC deals with the procedure when after the commencement of inquiry or trial, Magistrate finds and it appears to him at any stage of the proceedings before signing judgment that the case is one which ought to be tried by the Court of Session, he shall commit it to that Court . He further went ahead and explained who a Public Prosecutor is and what are his roles. While explaining the different provisions of the CrPC, Justice also made reference to the schedules of the Code for better explanation.

Day 4
Resource person: Dr. Pinky Anand
Topic: The right of Women and the march towards equality
Dr. Anand began her speech by talking about the position of women before 500 BC in India and explained how through various social movements, judicial interventions and legislatives reforms the status of women has changed substantially over the period of years. She further spoke about “Law as a factor for social change”. She explained that the empowerment of women should not merely be limited to empowering her at workplace but it should also empower her at her home and for this she referred to the provisions with respect to inheritance and how it was only in the year 2005 women were considered to be coparceners in the Hindu Undivided family and were placed at an equal footing with the male counterparts.

She even referred to the case of Visakha v State of Rajasthan which was a ground breaking judgment which played a very important role in safeguarding a woman against any kind of sexual harassment at her workplace. Dr. Anand mentioned that this judicial intervention played a major role in workplace empowerment and shows the extent to which a judicial decision can influence the process of law making.

She even mentioned that merely having a right is not sufficient but the state should ensure that the woman has the ‘right to access it’, the ‘need to access it’ and the ‘means to access it’. One of the topics on which Dr. Anand briefly commented was the Reservation Bill. She spoke about the importance of it and also about how important it is for the government to take this Bill seriously as it would ensure equal participation of women and will hence ensure equality of opportunity.

Having said that she also emphasized on how far we have come in recognizing the rights of women and she referred to the case of Geeta Hariharan which categorically laid down that even a women can be a natural guardian of a child. She also spoke about the Sebi Guidelines which has mandated the representation of women in corporate board which was not the case before.

Day 5:
Resource person: Justice Karunakaran
Topic: Appreciation and weight of evidence in online trials
Hon’ble Justice spoke about what are the essentials of determining the admissibility of evidence and how it is tested objectively only after which it is either accepted or rejected. While explaining about testing the evidence virtually Justice stated that he believes that there is no major problem in sending the evidence virtually other than some technical glitches only in appreciation of evidence there will be an inadequacy. He gave example of how oral evidence and written evidence are evaluated by the Judges in real courts and how being present in front of the accused helps the Judges in even using his Sixth sense in order to determine the guilt of the accused. He went on to explain that evidence must stand the test of relevancy and referred to the test of admissibility as laid down under Sec 122 of Evidence Act. He even explained what should be considered as irrelevant evidence and even gave the categories to test the same such as character, opinion, hearsay, and similar facts. Justice also touched upon the Interpretation of statues when he referred to S. 57 and emphasized on the word “shall”. Hon’ble Justice even raised a very important question which all of us should think and answer- Should the idea of court be considered as a service or a place? More people have access to internet than access to justice which is an alarming situation and hence every attempt should be made to meet that gap.

Day 6
Resource person: Sri Udaya Holla, Former Advocate General, Govt of Karnataka
Topic: Procedural intricacies of representing government in online trials.
Sri Udaya Holla began the session by talking about the changes introduced by the pandemic in the procedural aspects of the working of the courts. Ever since the country entered a nationwide lockdown in March to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus, the courts have heard matters, via video-conference and other online platforms. Judges are often presiding over cases from their homes over video hearings and reading submissions made electronically. Coronavirus has set into motion the rise of virtual courts in India. Sri Udaya Holla opined that even though the online courts are helping to address the current situation, in a country like India with huge gaps with respect to the access to knowledge and technology, there is apprehension that virtual courts will hamper the accessibility of justice. Moreover, the change from the physical courts to virtual courts is going to be a tough task for India due to its extensive judicial system with thousands of courts, especially many in remote village areas where internet facilities are weak or are not available. In addition to that many people either lack the knowledge of using virtual platform systems or are not comfortable in using them. Sir pointed out that one of the biggest disadvantages of the virtual courts is that the emotional advantage which can be sought when in physical courts cannot be gotten in the online courts especially during the examination and the cross examination. Sir also explained about the Indian Litigation Rules and said that both the verdict given in the physical and the virtual platforms carry the same weightage. The session ended with the questions raised by the participants.

Day 7
Resource Person: Prof. Dr. Chidananda Reddy S. Patil
Topic: Enforcement of Human Rights in pandemic
Dr. Chidananda initiated the discussion by explaining the very root meaning of Human Rights. He simplified and used the term ‘necessity’ which he said is evolutionary in nature. He said that Human Rights are the rights which every individual has by virtue of the fact that they were born as a human. Sir pointed out three essentials of Human Rights i) Fundamental ii) Inviolable & iii) Inalienable. He mentioned about a landmark case in which the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India emphasized that Fundamental rights are natural rights which cannot be conferred by anyone, it is a part of the basic structure. Sir further added about the enactment of the Protection of Human Right Act, 1993. According to the Act the meaning of Human Rights under this Act is, the rights relating to life, liberty, equality & dignity of the individual which are guaranteed by the Constitution or are enforceable under the International covenants and by the courts in India.

Sir talked about the three principal enforcement institutions (that is Courts of law), NHRC (National Human Right Commission), SHRCs (State Human Right Commissions) and the Human Right Courts. Art 32 & 226 provides writs to approach Supreme Court & High Courts respectively to seek redressal for the infringement of any basic or fundamental rights. Sir mentioned landmark cases in the country which brought the very spirit of these rights into implementations, some of these cases are Rudal Sah v. State of Bihar , Bhim Singh v. State of J&K. In the case of M.C Mehta v. Union of India, the ambit of what ingredients should be present in violation of Human Rights came into light, the infringements of right must be gross, patent, and the magnitude must be such as to shock the conscience of the court.

Sir added that, On March 24th Supreme Court ordered all the States and Union Territories to set up high level panels which would consider releasing all convicts who have been jailed for up to 7 years on parole to decongest jail in an attempt to contain the covid-19 outbreak.

Sir concluded the day’s session by talking about the Corona Warriors who are persons who not only need appreciation but are also people for whom the Court stepped in, in order to safeguard and protect their interests.

Day 8
Resource Person: Hon'ble Justice Kurian Joseph Former Judge, Supreme Court of India
Topic: Online Mediations and Arbitrations
Justice spoke about the different methods that are being adopted post covid-19 to facilitate online mediations and arbitrations. He explained the concept of arbitration and mediation and how the involvement of a third party makes the entire process easier and much more hassle free. He even spoke about how this process when combines with technology eases the process of justice delivery system. Sir also spoke about online mediation and about its relevance in the current situation in. He also shared about how he along with other mediators are trying to test several methods of evaluating the evidence for the purpose of more successful mediation process. Sir emphasized on how the online methods of adjudicating matters can never substitute the original courts but it can definitely supplement the existing courts which will decrease the burden of the pending cases. Hon’ble justice also emphasized the need to encourage people to opt for arbitration and to facilitate it in such a way that the order awarded cannot be challenged in the Court again.

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Topic: Teaching Methodology
Date: 28th August 2019
Time: 2.00 P.M. to 4.00 P.M.
Participants: Law Faculties
Name and details of the Resource Person: Sri Nadir Shah Dhondy, Supreme Court Advocate

He talked about how there are certain problems which are faced by everyone universally. He emphasized on the purpose that although in today’s world continuous updating of studies and knowledge is required not only within the field of academics but also in other felids too but it's especially required in law teacher to stay the foremost wanted and desirable person. He also gave practical tips about the way to become a ‘good teacher’. consistent with him, to become a ‘good teacher’ one should motivate oneself to possess a vision and shape this vision consistent with oneself. He acknowledged, that for an educator to show law he/she must first understand the law because it is himself then set about understanding from the case laws and judgments and only then he would be ready to teach law to the scholars. He emphasized on the necessity for enhanced observation skills and research so as to develop and formulate a search problem. He greatly urged the school present to start out writing and analysing so as to utilize his or her potential as an academician to the fullest. He enlightened the faculty present on the way to develop oneself into a far better teacher and an academician.

Objectives of FDP
• To enable teachers to master a repertoire of instructional methods and strategies to ensure good and effective teaching in law.
• To expose various pedagogies and then by incorporating essential pedagogical knowledge, skills, dispositions and commitments that enable teachers to practice at high level.
• To enable the participants to understand and practice “Outcomes Based teaching” and “Learner Centric Teaching Strategies”
• To enable the participants to develop appropriate tools of assessment
• To enable them recognise and imbibe the proficiencies and qualities of good teacher

Outcome of the event: The programme was quite enlightening and interactive. it had been learning and motivating session for the participants because it has provided the exposure and made the participants aware with the research, methods to follow teaching Law subjects.

Date: 07.09.2017
Time: 1.00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.
Name and details of the Resource Person: Sri. S Seetharaman, Principal Partner and Country Head- India Lakshmikumaran and Shreedharan Attorneys
Objectives: Train the faculty members

In house Faculty development programme was organized for the faculty members of the Kristu Jayanti College of Law, on 7th September 2017 at 2 PM. The resource person was Sri.Seetharaman, Principal Partner and Country Head- India, Lakshmikumaran and Shreedharan Attorneys. The main objective of the programme was to encourage the faculty members to perform better and contribute for the improvement of the institution. Sri Seetharaman gave lots of insights as to how we can achieve the target of making this institution one among top five colleges of the country and as to how students can be made to excel in the field of law. Later suggestions of the faculty members were also collected.