The Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia organised the 8th Jamia Millia Islamia National Moot Court Competition (Online) on 25th – 27th June 2020. It was the institution’s first online major competition. This digitally held competition saw a staggering 150 registrations from law schools and colleges across the country. Prof. Najma Akhtar, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia inaugurated the competition and welcomed the guests and participants. Hon’ble Mr Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, Judge, Supreme Court of India, and Hon’ble Justice Mr Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari, Chairperson, Punjab State Human Rights Commission, graced the occasion as Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively. In the face of the adversities posed by the ongoing restrictions on movement and social gatherings, this competition was organised through the virtual platform of Google Meet.
This competition was distinct in the sense that it was a completely paperless competition. The Moot Proposition was based on the contemporary issues and challenges posed in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. After subjecting all the submitted memorials through a strict and rigorous assessment process, the top 24 teams were given a chance to present their oral arguments before the learned judges in virtual courtrooms. In pursuit of conducting the oral rounds, a set of two Preliminary Rounds with 12 courtrooms each were set-up through Google Meet in such a manner that each court commenced sharply at 9:20 AM on 26th June 2020. Similarly, four courtrooms were setup for quarter-finals, two for the semi-finals and lastly one for the finals.
In a closely contested final, Government Law College, Mumbai (a team composed of Avirup Mandal, Vishwajeet Deshmukh, and Vatsala Varandani) emerged as Winners whereas, NULAS, Kochi (a team composed of Jino Matthews Raju, Mahathi U., and Abhijit S Kumar) being the Runners-up. The Final Round was judged by Prof. B. T. Kaul, and Senior Advocates, Mr Kirti Uppal, Mr Brij Bhushan Gupta and Mr Tarique Siddiqui. Among other award winners, Lloyd Law College (a team of Vaibhav Shahi, Shubham Mishra, and Shashank Tilhari) won the Best Memorial Award, Mr Avirup Mandal (GLC, Mumbai) won the Best Speaker (Male), Ms Anoushka Gahilot(ILS Law College, Pune)won the Best Speaker (Female) and Mr Mohd. Yousuf Ali (Aligarh Muslim University) was declared as the Best Researcher. A total cash prize of Rs. 40,000/- and SCC Online’s Subscription was also kept for the awardees in various categories.
The corpus of judges constituted of lawyers, judges and academicians. Hon’ble Justice Asha Menon, Judge, Delhi High Court and Prof. B. T. Kaul, Former Chairperson, Delhi Judicial Academy, graced the valedictory programme with their eminent presence. The Competition was organised under the leadership of Prof. Sajid Z. Amani (Dean, Faculty of Law, JMI) and was convened by Dr Mohd. Asad Malik (Convener) and Dr Noorjahan Momin (Co-Convener). The entire event was seamlessly managed by the student volunteers under the guidance of Mr Mohd. Yasin (Student Convener, Moot Court Committee, JMI) along with Mr Sami Ahmed (Student Convener, Research Committee, JMI). The Moot Proposition was authored by Mr Mohd Yasin, Student Convenor, Moot Court Committee, Faculty of Law, JMI. The competition was sponsored by SCC Online and Eastern Book Company.
