Just when you thought the twists and turns in the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and NLSIU Bangalore saga could not get any more dramatic, the predecessor of current NLSIU Bangalore vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Prof Venkata Rao, has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the institution he used to head on a plethora of grounds, according to LiveLaw and Bar & Bench.
Rao filed the petition against the National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) jointly with Rakesh Kumar Agarwalla, the parent of a candidate, via advocates Sughosh Subramanyam and Vipin Nair. The petition in the apex court follows at least one high court petition (in Jharkhand) challenging the NLAT.
He alleged that NLS’ decision to hold its separate entrance test was “unilateral” and the petition is strong on historical Law School rhetoric, noting, according to LiveLaw:
Ostensibly it appears that the sole aim of the Respondent No. 2 [NLSIU VC Prof. [Dr.] Sudhir Krishnaswamy] is to turn the Respondent No. 1 [NLSIU] from an island of excellence to an island of exclusion
The petition, a full copy of which is viewable here, accuses NLSIU of:
- violating the bylaws of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) consortium by spinning up its own exam,
- that home proctored tests were prone to being cheated on,
- not giving sufficient notice to candidates of the exam, which is scheduled for 12 September, with mocks scheduled between tomorrow and 11 September.
Comments
1. Sudhir: Wants permanent Claxit and a separate NLAT, with greater stress on English. Wants NLSIU replaced with KSLU in CLAT. Opposed to domicile quota in NLSIU. Wants NLSIU declared as a standalone island of excellence with INI status, differentiated from other NLUs. This will guarantee NIRF #1 rank for life and restore NLSIU to pre-2000s supremacy.
2. NLSIU alumni: Everyone is with Sudhir, at least privately. Furious lobbying going on to oppose domicile quota and get INI status.
3. Ishwara Bhat: Wants KSLU renamed to KNLU, as a new NLU. Would like Claxit with KNLU as the sole Karnataka law school in CLAT.
4. Karnataka govt: Open to idea of KNLU as an NLU and NLSIU as a standalone university with INI status and no domicile reservation. Can impose 50% domicile reservation at KNLU with parallel Kannada language LLB and LLM.
5. Modi government: Indifferent so far, but Vikramjit Banerjee is batting for NLSIU in court.
6. Manan Mishra: Will support whichever position that increases his own power. Waiting and watching for now. May support Claxit and KNLU proposal if BCI guaranteed clout in both.
7. Faizan: Publicly opposes Sudhir and feels insulted, but also sees Claxit as a potential opportunity for NALSAR to be #1, possibly improve NIRF rank.
8. Ranbir Singh: Trying to stay on at NLUD as long as possible.
9. PS Jaswal: Frontrunner for NLUD post. Would like NLUD to join CLAT, as NLUD may top CLAT preference eventually.
10. VCs with TLC background: Hostile to Sudhir and other NLU alumni becoming VCs. Want Sudhir gone. Petition by Rao possibly has wider backing.
Put your head down and get to work. We know you had a lot of spare time during the lockdown. Now get to work
2.how they can take fees from student what tstudents already paid to considurium.
3.they have done breach of contract and brach of trust
It is quite rich for Prof. R. Venkat Rao to intervene in this matter. One of the reasons that NLSIU is in a hurry to admit the incoming batches is the terrible financial situation inherited from the previous VC who served between May 2009-July 2019. The fee-collections from the new batches are needed to ensure that salaries for teachers and staff can be paid throughout the present academic year. Of course, Sudhir Krishnaswamy should openly admit this as a reason for going for a separate admissions process, instead of hiding behind the comparatively minor problem of academic scheduling. Coming back to Prof. Venkat Rao's two terms, a large amount of money (running into several crores of rupees) were misspent and income has been lost due to the previous VC turning a blind eye to petty corruption. Some examples of the financial malpractices during his term are:
1) Prof. RVR was collecting House Rent Allowance (HRA) between May 2009-December 2012, despite being given comfortable accommodation on the NLSIU campus. This was only stopped when this issue was flagged in an EC meeting by Prof. V. Nagaraja (then Registrar) and Prof. RVR returned nearly 10 Lakhs to the University. Please cite an example of any other Vice-Chancellor who quietly receives HRA from his University despite being given a house to stay.
2) Prof. RVR attended dozens of conferences in foreign nations which had no connections with his academic experience or expertise. In some cases, he even attended conferences that were conducted in languages such as Spanish and French, where he merely attended as a delegate so that he could tour a foreign country. In many cases, the cancellation costs of his frequent flights (both international and domestic) were borne by the University. A proper audit will show that over 10 years, Lakhs of rupees were misspent to fund his personal travels, many of whom were wrongfully documented as conference participation.
3) In order to please members of the Bar Council of India (BCI) who were part of the NLSIU Governing Bodies (Executive Council/General Council/Academic Council), Prof. RVR repeatedly provided business-class flights and 4 Star/5 Star accommodation, whereas the previous practice was to cover economy-class flights and provide accommodation at the NLSIU Training Centre. You can calculate the amount spent over 10 years, since these bodies meet 2-3 times every year.
4) Between 2013-2019, an additional invigilation fees was paid to teachers/staff for merely conducting invigilation duties in internal exams. This is simply not done in autonomous universities where invigilation duties are part of the serving teacher's duties. Over six years, lakhs of rupees were misspent in this form.
5) The expenditure incurred on the University Convocation Programmes kept escalating during Prof. RVR's terms. In some years, nearly Rs. 75 Lakhs- 1 crore was spent on the NLSIU Convocation Programmes. A proper audit will demonstrate numerous irregularities in the organisation of these programmes.
6) Several faculty members at NLSIU frequently organise training programmes for working professionals, teachers in other colleges and advocates. In some cases, these programmes are sponsored by external agencies and bring in valuable revenue for the University. However, in many cases these programmes were funded through participation fees, wherein the collections largely went in to the pockets of the organising teachers/staff members close to them. The University did not even receive the prescribed rents for the use of conference facilities, accommodation provided for guests and meals prepared by staff members. For the FY 2018-2019, the total collections from these programme was above Rs. 7 crores, while the University only received Rs. 43 Lakhs. What justified such a lax attitude when this could have been an important source of revenue for the University?
7) It was not publicly known until recently that even scholarship grants were being given to students from the general funds of the University, instead of the accepted practice of supporting scholarships through the interest earned on endowments. While it is important to help needy students through fee-waivers, the University should have a clear source of revenue to support them, whether through surplus income earned from other heads or through external contributions. Additionally dozens of students were given interest-free loans without asking them to sign pledges for repayment. Which University in the world allows that?
There are many more examples of such misspending and loss of income during Prof. R. Venkat Rao's terms as NLSIU VC. A proper forensic audit [...] His well-wishers should inform him about this, because his successor can easily publish these details with documentary evidence.
Now what does this tell about Messiah?
Messiah will not go anywhere. Did Nandi leave? He is still alive and kicking. Sarasu is actually part of "the Command". Oh yes, it seems you never got GoT. It is true that Messiah deserves (and craves) attention. But why no scrutiny for his Hand?
FM has pointedly asked why Messiah remained silent and sprung EC resolution story so late in the day. The Hand(written) note circulated from Messiahdom (of snakes - Kian, Nagarbhavi means well of snakes) does not conclusively prove that Messiah had placed EC resolutions well in time and yet was repeatedly ignored.
An alum has suggested that the Crimes of RVR must be investigated. Shouldn't Messiah have started inquiries soon after coronation? Is the alum suggesting that Messiah's caged parrots should be set loose for some bargaining in the shadow of law?
Coming back to GoT, I think Messiah did a Tywin on Angry VCs. The lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep. Yay
But then the man got shot while taking a dump! You get the hint.
Please upload or hyperlink a copy of the oft-quoted Varun Bhagat judgment. The SC website has drawn a blank. Apparently even Shamnad despite his "connections" couldn't track down a copy of the judgment for his own CLAT petition.
Kian, you may have a very surprising scoop should you pursue FM or NM (wrote a similar piece in BB) for an actual copy of Varun Bhagat judgment. Just go for it and let us all know how that went. Whichever way it goes and ends, it is going to be exciting.
Also has anyone here ever seen or actually read the Varun Bhagat judgment? Not commentaries on what it supposedly said etc.
Yes, other NLUs having TLC VCs already suffer this.