Chandigarh, December 18
The country's eighth law university will be set up in Punjab, possibly in the vicinity of Chandigarh. It will be the first such university in the North .
Having received the go-ahead from the Union Government, the Government of Punjab is giving final touches to the draft of a Bill that it intends to introduce in the Legislature to pave the way for the establishment of the university.
According to highly placed sources, the proposed university will be modelled on the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, which was the first such university in the country, having been established in 1988.
As per the draft Act, prepared by the Department of Higher Education, Punjab, the proposed university will be set up within a 35-40 km radius of Chandigarh. The Punjab Government will provide at least 50 acres free of cost for the university, which will have an initial investment of Rs 60 crore.
Of the 300-odd universities in the country, about 100 have full-fledged departments of law.
However, in view of the rapidly changing education scene coupled with the fact that more and more students are now opting to study law, it has long been felt that state governments must take the initiative to establish law universities in their states.
In a step forward in this regard, at a meeting of the Law Ministers of states at Bhubaneswar, it was decided to have at least one law university in each state. The Union Government promised to pitch in with a part of the expenditure on the establishment of such universities.
Apart from NLSIU, the other six law universities are the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, Hyderabad, the National Law Institutes at Bhopal, Kolkata, Jodhpur, Chattisgarh and Ahmedabad. The last one at Ahmedabad was established last year.
As far as the proposed law university in Punjab is concerned, the government has appointed high-level committee to work out the modalities and also give final touches to the draft Bill.
"We are very keen on having such a university. With the study and practice of law emerging as a major area of interest among students, it is high time the state also has its own law university," explains Mr R.S. Cheema, Advocate General, Punjab.
According to sources in the government, the government will introduce the Bill in the Vidhan Sabha soon.
