Prof Ranbir Singh, NLU Delhi’s founding vice chancellor (VC) who has served in the position for 11 years, is due to retire tomorrow (23 September), though he will continue to stay at the NLU as professor emeritus from 24 September.

NLU Delhi, its registrar Prof GS Bajpai and vice chancellor (VC) Prof Ranbir Singh are facing a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi high court dramatically alleging “rampant abuse of public office and nepotism in admission and appointment”, as first reported by Bar & Bench on Friday.

As we had first reported late last month, NLU Delhi had begun looking for a new vice chancellor (VC), in what will no doubt be one of the most hotly-contested jobs in the field.

NLU Delhi has instituted a selection committee to look for a successor to vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Ranbir Singh, who started the law school in 2008 and is due to retire soon.

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2017 convenor CNLU Patna has been dragged to the Patna high court, accused in a public interest litigation (PIL) of awarding an illegal tender to a company to conduct the CLAT, allegedly therefore compromising the quality of the exam.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has proposed to override law schools’ autonomy by inducting its own members into their faculty selection committee, as an “expert member”, in its draft first amendment to the Legal Education Rules 2008.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) cannot be relied upon to take the legal services liberalisation process forward, said NLU Delhi vice chancellor (VC) Ranbir Singh on Saturday.

NLU Delhi vice chancellor (VC) Prof Ranbir Singh, who on Friday joined the board of the 300-plus member International Association of Universities (IAU), said that the “timing is proper” for liberalisation in Indian legal services.

Former Luthra & Luthra Delhi corporate partner Anil Kumar Rai will be joining NLU Delhi as a visiting professor.

Singh’s new term at the college he founded will start from 21 July.

NLU Delhi added five full time faculty, two visiting professors and three research associates to its teaching staff this academic year taking its total faculty strength to 44, while continuing the drive to recruit young faculty by offering salaries more attractive to foreign university LLM holders.

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Exclusive: NLSIU Bangalore has launched a host of new construction in its academic block, hostels, and basketball courts while NLU Delhi has decided to renegotiate the pay of its foreign-educated faculty, after both law schools were sanctioned close to Rs 8 crore by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in November 2012.

A similar grant was also extended by the UGC to the other 12 national law schools (NLU) late last year under the eleventh five-year plan, after their vice chancellors (VC) lobbied aggressively against excluding the law schools from central funding.

Until last Wednesday, an explosive 161-page document prepared by four judges was gathering dust in the office of Nalsar Hyderabad vice chancellor (VC) Veer Singh for nearly four months. Few, if any, had read it and most faculty and students claimed they were unaware even of its existence or any details.

The story of that report is Nalsar’s alone. But this is also a story of academic power struggles, law school management and students caught in between, that will have near-universal parallels in many Indian law schools.

Exclusive: Current NLU Delhi vice chancellor Professor (Dr) Ranbir Singh will be honoured with this year’s Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) Madhava Menon law teacher of the year award, while the Goa-based Salgaocar College of Law has been chosen for the institutional excellence award.

The law ministry has inducted nine legal experts into the 19th Law Commission of India, including NLU Delhi vice-chancellor Ranbir Singh, Rajasthan High Court judge Shiv Kumar Sharma and former additional solicitor general Amarjit Singh.