“Thorough knowledge and understanding of Public Law (the law relating to the relationship between the State and the citizens) and the underlying principles– is an essential part of statecraft”.
With the aim of disseminating thorough knowledge and developing critical thinking of Public Law among students the Centre for Public Law was established. It was formally inaugurated on 30th July 2009 by the Principal of ILS Law College, Mrs. Joshi, and Dr. Sanjay Jain, (Lecturer, ILS Law College) faculty coordinator.
The principal objectives of the Centre are:
- To promote Constitutional studies through innovative means
- Train the students to engage with core concepts underline Indian Constitutional Law in particular and public law in general
- Critique judgements of Supreme Court and High Courts touching Public Law
- Identify interface of Public Law with other disciplines of Law
- To nourish a Constitutional Culture
- Grapple with interpretative skills to fathom the depth of Public Law
- To encourage students to undertake research projects and to present public law as a means and end towards nation building
- To hold short courses, conferences and seminars on contemporary developments in public law
- To impart knowledge of Public Law through research-oriented activities involving students, and going beyond traditional classroom teaching methods.
The forum of the Centre is open to students who wish to present their work for exchange of ideas and opinions, make presentations and for informal discussion groups.
Expectations
Students would
- Engage with Constitutional Law earnestly
- Analyse its major aspects threadbare and apply them innovatively to contemporary socio legal issues
- Re-engineer provisions in the Constitution to bring them in line with changing times
Activities
- Research paper competitions
- Presentations
- Seminars and conferences
- Specialised courses in aspects not dealt with in the classroom
- Research Projects
- Film Screenings
- Celebration of Constitution Day
- Quizzes
- Law Cartooning
- Constitutional Law Crosswords
- Legal Essay Writing
- Public Law Bulletin
- Mock Constituent Assembly
- The Centre has also introduced number of creative and innovative contests like CONST ICON, Constitutional Law Olympiad, and Alternate Judgement Writing Competition.
Till date centre has organized four National Level Conferences and has completed more than 15 student initiated research projects.
The Centre set a new benchmark by organizing an innovative event Re-arguing Kesavananda Bharti in 2010 culminating in Publication of a Book ‘Basic Structure Constitutionalism: Re-visiting Kesavananda Bharti’, edited by Dr. Sanjay S. Jain and Ms. Sathya Narayan.
Core Team
For smooth administration of activities of the centre, a core committee of students under the guidance of faculty co-ordinators is constituted, every year.
Faculty Co-ordinators:
- Dr. Sanjay Jain, Associate Professor
- Mr. D.P. Kendre, Assistant Professor
- Ms. Isha Khopkar, Assistant Professor
Student Members:
- Anshika Sharma
- Ashok Pandey
- Ashwin Bhagwat
- Avisha Pawar
- Ayush Wadhi
- Dayita Panicker
- Neha Deshmukh
- Nihar Chitre
- Prachi Acharya
- Pranay Jaiswal
- Rajmohan C.V.
- Saranya Mishra
- Sharanya Sivaraman
- Shreya Sukhtankar
- Sonya Mohan
- Sumedha Kuraparthy
- Swati Shekar
- Tanushri Joshi
- Tapan Radkar
- Varad Kolhe
- Yash Venkataraman
