Indian Law Society

The early days of the Indian Law Society’s Law College date back as far as the year 1902, when Mr. J.R. Gharpure and Mr. P.B. Shingne decided to make a new beginning in the direction of a regularized system of imparting legal education. ‘The New Law Class, Bombay’ was therefore started in 1903. After running this class for five years, it was thought desirable to start a regular law college, which would be affiliated to a university. Accordingly, the Fergusson College Law Class was started in 1908, and was conducted by Mr. Gharpure. More than 125 students were registered on roll. However within a few weeks, this institution was disaffiliated from the University of Bombay. After a period of more than fifteen years the above experiment was still under trial. The scope for improvement was recognised and on 4th March, 1923, a new society called the ‘Indian Law Society’ was inaugurated, whose first President was Dr. Sir Narayan Rao C. Chandawarkar. It was proposed at this meeting that a private law college be set up in Pune. After preliminary preparations, the Law college formally commenced operation on the 20th of June 1924, under the banner of the Indian Law Society. It was then known as the ‘Poona Law College’. The Society acquired 154 acres of land and the first building called the Saraswati Building was built in 1935. The foundation stone was laid down at the hands of the Late Honourable Srinivas Shastri on 7th January 1935.

The Saraswati building was thoughtfully architectured to look like a sage meditating in the ‘lotus’ position. Subsequently the hostel for resident students, a Gymkhana and a pavilion were also built. The construction of a swimming pool further enriched the facilities. The Laxmi building was later added to meet the growing needs of the College. All this was done under the auspices of the first principal of the college, Nana Saheb Gharpure – a man of great vision & foresight.