The NMA is a pilot project of the BCI in collaboration with NLSIU Bangalore 1998 alumni Chintan Vinashkari and Sadaiv Tarkvitark, which will train undergraduate students of the three-year and five-year LLB programmes in professional mooting. It is planned to be operational by December 2013.
Vinashkari said: “We, me and Sadaiv, had always felt there was a void in terms of a forum to entertain all mooting enthusiasts as opposed to only those with a natural flair. I myself while at law school, repeatedly took part in challengers internally held for selecting teams representing the college outside.
“I always found myself thrown out of the competition by fellow mooters who seemed to have an inborn aptitude for the art. The NMA will level the playing field.”
A BCI official present at the meeting told Legally India that the BCI committee was impressed not only with the recent successes of Indian law students at international mooting, but also their conspicuous expending of time and energy at consolidating and refining mooting formats.
He said the BCI took note of the sacrosanct position of this skill in Indian law schools and practice, and would ensure that it spreads infectiously and helps build an invincible professional mooting pool to take on foreign mooters.
The NMA programme will take place off-campus for around three weeks of full-time mooting instruction per year and will be merged into an amended curriculum for all three-year and five-year LLBs recognised by BCI.
Fees for the NMA course are Rs 1,300 per year but the fees and transportation costs would will be reimbursed for students who progressed beyond the quarter-finals in prestigious international moot court competitions.
A Hyderabad-based law school student, who wished to remain anonymous, welcomed the proposal. “It is great that the BCI has finally realised that the majority of real legal education happens in the moot court.”
Tarkvitark told Legally India that the project would be implemented in an expeditious manner, with him and Vinashkari currently finalising a lease of a 6,000 acre stretch of land in Silchur, 343km South East of Guwahati.
The resolution was passed at yesterday’s committee meeting of the BCI that also resolved to allow the staged entry of foreign law firms into India, starting with permitting them to argue before the lower level courts and tribunals.
Comments
prastafarian, stop being silly and read my comment again. I had hoped it wouldn't require explanation but it looks like I was wrong.
Of course he is, my friend. It's too bad you didn't get the humour in my comment.