States reply sought in PIL

Updated on: Friday, November 18, 2011

In the wake of the controversy over setting up of a National Law School (NLS) in the state, higher and technical education minister Rajesh Tope has proposed to establish three institutes to resolve the dispute. When Vilasrao Deshmukh was the chief minister, the state cabinet had decided to set up the NLS at Aurangabad.

However, a section of senior judicial officials urged the state government to establish the law school near Uttan in Thane district. A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court to establish the NLS at Nagpur. The court has sought the state government’s reply on the PIL. According to the norms prescribed by the Centre, the state government can decide on the number of national law schools to be set up. However, financial assistance from the Union government will be provided for a single NLS. “We feel in the view of huge demand for law graduates, the state needs quality law schools. According to the policy, we will secure financial assistance from the Union government and make budgetary provision for setting up two new national law schools. However, the final decision will be taken by the state cabinet,” a senior bureaucrat told TOI.

He added, “We have studied the national law schools established in Bangalore, Patiala, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Jodhpur. Initially, we will require a minimum of Rs 65 crore and the annual operational expenditure will be Rs 10 crore."

States reply sought in PIL

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