New Delhi, December 3
Perhaps, this is India's smallest 'teaching joint', but with a huge strength of students, functioning from the heart of the Capital. And it enjoys the highest patronage from the judicial and government circles.

Called the Indian Law Institute (ILI) Deemed University, it is 'operating' from just eight rooms of the premier law research organisation's building, opposite the Supreme Court, with over 500 students enrolled.

The ILI was founded in 1956 primarily with the objective of promoting and conducting legal research. It is an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The Chief Justice of India is the ex-officio president of the institute. But his busy schedule keeps him away from the day-to-day functioning of the institute.

The Union Law Minister and the Attorney-General for India are its ex-officio vice-presidents. Third vice-president is elected by the members of the Governing Council, from among themselves. Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, prominent lawyers, government officials and professors of law are also represented in the Governing Council.

The ILI was granted 'Deemed University' status in 2004 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on October 29, 2004. At that time, the deemed university began functioning from four rooms only.

For the academic session 2012-13, the ILI admitted 38 students for two year LLM course, 38 students for three-year LLM evening course and 324 students for the post-graduate diploma course. If you take into account second and third year students of the LLM, the total number of students is 514.

Aghast over the ILI's state of affairs, a senior elected Governing Council member, Dr. Janak Raj Jai (82), has written a letter to HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju with a copy to the CJI and the UGC Chairman, appealing to them to intervene to streamline the institute, which, he says, has been without a 'administrative head' for more than a year. "An expert committee can be appointed to set the ILI house in order," Jai has suggested.

"The ILI has been functioning without a director for more than a year; it is being run virtually by the Registrar and the 'director-in-charge.' It is in a bad shape; it is dysfunctional since the time it became a deemed university," says Jai. The ILI, he adds, is basically a research organisation. After becoming a deemed university, its character has changed. "The students study serious law subjects sitting in a cramped situation in the rooms on different floors," Jai told The Tribune.

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) petition, the ILI has admitted that eight classrooms/workable rooms are available in addition to the plenary hall, which is used for weekly seminar for LLM students. Even two lounges, one at the first floor and the second on the third floor, are used for teaching. "The lounges are certainly not meant for teaching," Jai points out.

The ILI in its RTI reply has claimed that the institute has "sufficient space" to accommodate students of LLM and post-graduate diploma courses. The class rooms and other infrastructure are "optimally utilised."

"There is no complaint from any student or staff regarding accommodation," the ILI says. Amused, Jai asks, "Can a student dare to complain?

A senior official of the Ministry of Law and Justice said: "We are aware about the shortage of space for students. We have received a request from the ILI authorities for providing "additional space" for teaching at the first and second floor of the building."

The ILI's Registrar, Dalip Kumar, told this correspondent that "we met the Union Law Secretary recently to discuss additional space issue. The ministry has agreed to give us space that the Law Commission of India was occupying as a tenant in our building's first floor." The Law Commission has shifted to a multi-storey building in Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

In Jai's opinion, the ILI's academic and research wings should be bifurcated to function independently from different floors. There can be two different directors to head these wings, with more administrative powers so that they do not have to approach the President of the Institute (the CJI) for every day problems.

Currently, Jai says, there is hardly any room available for the research scholars. The libraries of these two wings should also be separated. The books of the research library are in a bad shape as a large number of photocopies are made by the students from these valuable law books of well-known Indian and foreign authors. 

The ILI has been functioning without a director for more than a year; it is being run virtually by the Registrar and the “director-in-charge”. It is in a bad shape; it is dysfunctional since the time it became a deemed university

— Dr Janak Raj Jai, Governing Council member