Eleven students from CNLU’s first passing-out batch have been on a hunger strike, as reported yesterday, with others extending full support by appearing in large number at the campus.
“Some students have started hunger strike also, but once the chief minister grants a meeting they will stop,” confirmed CNLU vice chancellor A Lakshminath.
“The final year students having passed out in the month of May and June wanted some placements and we are trying our best to invite companies and they have promised to come either this week or next week,” he told Legally India.
“Every effort is being made by the university to make sure placements happen and companies will be coming. Some have even finalised their dates of visiting the campus, we’re also trying for placements with companies within Bihar also. We are contacting industries and associations like All India Reporter,” he added.
“The situation should improve but basically their demand is to meet the chief minister and he may grant a meeting depending on his convenience.”
Rahul Anand, who is one of the students sitting on hunger strike, said: “We are on protest because not even a single company or law firm has visited college for placement and our college administration told the state government that all 80 students have been placed.”
The agitation started after a group of four students including Anand met the chief minister Nitish Kumar during his weekly janta darbar.
“The chief minister told us that he has information that all the students have been placed and the VC is trying now to place the fourth yr students,” said Anand. “But the fact is that not even a single company has visited CNLU and not even a single student has been placed anywhere in India.”
According to Anand, the students waited for a few days after taking to the CM, but on Monday this week they decided to commence a strike demanding for the CM to visit the college and see for himself that no students from a batch size of 80 was placed.
“As a part of protests the students blocked the administrative activities in the college while the academic activities have not been hampered,” added Anand.
Anand further said that the students tried on their own to get in touch with law firms but received no positive response as they had started late in February. The reason for the delay in initiating the process was lack of co-ordination with the college authorities who had otherwise assured of inviting companies for placements.
One student commented that one member of the college authorities had claimed “this is Bihar and no one wants to come to Bihar”.
Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) in Patna was founded in 2006.
The college was rapped by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in September 2010 for not having “minimum standards required under the rules”, threatening derecognition of the college in the absence of a response.
Comments
Exactly. This is also a problem faced by HNLU. Any new NLU should be set up either in a metro city or a city with a good airport with frequent flight connections all over India. Otherwise recuiters will not come.
At #3: getting placements by one's own calibre is good, but that doesn't mean that the so called NLUs have no responsibilities of getting their students placed by allowing or calling companies or law firms to the campus. If this will be the scenario, then why a student will invest suuch a huge amount of money for studying law at NLUs and not at some other law colleges.
It is sad to see this happen to another NLU.
Hope things are resolved soon. Good luck to them all.
Jodhpur and Bhopal are getting there, and are extremely prestigious too.
However, in case of the rest, including RGNUL( having visited the place), one needs to wait a while for results. At the end of the day, they are govt. sponsored.
In that case, private law schools have a better rate of placement, considering 10 people from RGNUL got placed with law firms. Nothing to boast of. Where I am, half the college s here on domicile, and only the other half is meritable, however, I know for sure that atleast 70% will get placed when I pass out. The college secures everybody with great internships every year as it is- including the duffers.
thanks a lot. so good of your knowledge to refer students who are demanding their due as militants.
but don't worry dude since this is a "no win no loss" situation, it is even more emboldening.
unlike your opinion let me tell you a tarnished image is no more a concern.
it is demand of this crisis.
As for CNLU – I think it is undeniable that being located in Patna is a huge liability, albeit not insurmountable, but something that all the students signing up to study there were aware of. The placement committee will have to make it worth the while of the Luthras, Shroffs and Zias to come out there. This is naturally going to be a tough task to achieve in the first year of recruitment and therefore the placement committee should perhaps aim for something more realistic (PSU's?). They could also structure the process to make it more attractive (i.e. start it earlier than the other law schools, reassure recruiters that once an offer is accepted the student will not be allowed to sit for further interviews etc). This will help differentiate them from other law schools in the same tier.
It's probably a huge waste of energy for students to demand this-that-and the other from the administration or the CM (and obviously does nothing to attract corporates/firms who want drones and not political activists!) rather than channelling it towards building their stature and processes to ensure that 5 years on, even the legal fatcats think a trip to Patna may just be worth it.
the job of placing students is, and necessarily should be, student run. you cannot give such a huge responsibility to the college admin, which take my word, is pathetic in almost all law schools. (barring a few exceptions ofcourse... ranbir singh's name comes to mind)
i appreciate the argument that a new university, with zero student or alumni clout, would need admin support to place its first few batches. but the little knowledge i have of the history of my law school suggests that the initial batches of NALSAR, NUJS, or NLS didnt get their CM's support for placements either. heck, when these schools were set up, the politicians and the general public could have cared less!
its legitimate to protest against nepotism, or corruption, or non-existent infrastructure. but a hunger-strike 2 weeks before the end of term, 'demanding' placements from the chief minister doesnt sound ethical in my opinion.
why didn't the outgoing batch protest and make noise 6 months back? when the people-in-power could actually have pulled some strings and asked PSUs and bank companies to visit the campus.
it seems there's lack of foresight and planning for their future on the part of CNLU students as well... i mean, if there's one law school that is the most disadvantaged geographically, then it has to be HNLU! but even those guys managed to secure jobs for more students...
the whole situation is pretty sad actually. the only long term solution i can think of is to bring in all national law schools under the union HRD ministry a-la the IITs and NITs and NIFTs and IIMs... that's the *only* way to maintain some sort of parity and uniformity in the quality of legal education imparted in the country. but that'd require the law schools in general and the student communities in particular, to come together and raise a concerted demand for the same... but that seems like a pipe-dream looking at the amount of vitriol spewed on these forums.
just my 2 cents. now back to due diligence!
@21 - Dude, seriously RGNUL performing better than CNLU? The more i try, the more i cant agree. This in no way means we disrespect your institution, but when it comes to accolades - for want of a better word, you people are lagging, and that would be putting it mildly.
Before sending an SOS to the CM, these students should have tried to get into a few well-known firms or some of the better PSUs. It takes time to create credibility and reputation. Hard work. No short-cut to success. And please, there is no entitlement to a job (except maybe Rahul Gandhi, who said he could become PM when he was 26).
No wailing cries to the CM. Or the PM. Or the DM. If you haven't got a job yet, maybe you could go and do an LLM.
One little puzzle though: given that Bihar's CM has an excellent brand equity for his sound governance and modernizing policies - much more after his resounding election victory - it's a bit surprising that none of the corporates and the metro crowd want to go to Bihar. What I hear is that people are crowding at the gates looking for opportunities to invest.
This brings us back to the earlier argument: reputation, whether good or bad, takes time to build - and undo. And Bihar's will take some time. More so when there are so many other NLUs to choose from. (How about joining LPOs?).
Fad? Hunger strike a "fad" did you say? Dude, have u got any idea what it means to be on a hunger strike for 5 consecutive days? And what level of frustration could be behind taking a measure as drastic as that! We are talking about careers here..not what the fad is and whats not. This has been resorted to because all other options were completely exhausted. But,people like you wont ever get. It seems fun to watch this stuff on tv, try it someday! Shall make u understand perhaps.
And, the " wailing cries" in front of the CM aren’t for the cause of placements alone(though they do remain the major issue). Its imperative to let the CM know what’s cooking at the institution that he bills to be his "Dream project", what a disaster the management of cnlu is. The reason why telling the CM is important is that there is definite reason to believe that he will take action! He is not known for taking initiative for nuts. The guy would improve the condition here , provided he comes to KNOW about them! And that, is the ultimate objective.
And RMLNLU, seriously?
yeah comparing these universities with NALSAR now wouldnt be a great idea. wait till we get the same amount of time. And as far as the arrogance in your comment goes,i am pretty sure you would be one of those people who brag on the basis of their brand name, and not on their own merit...something like tending to glorifying yourself on someone else's laurels. what i meant here is *BUZZ OFF*
I am sure all law schools have won laurels in won field or the other. Some being a bit ahead of others.
Hope you guys at CNLU see a better day soon.
Do not think everyone who says he is a Nalsarite and posts something arrogant is an actual Nalsarite. I am an actual one, btw.
- Chota Gold Flake, Nalsar (sometimes also known as Classic Regular)