5-Day Academic Visit to Chennai Report

19th February – 23rd February 2018

TEAM – 6

Submitted by:

ALEXANDER .I

5th Year, BA LLB (Hons.)

Submitted to:

Ms. Amrisha Tripathi,

Assistant Professor, TNNLS

The Tamil Nadu National Law School, Trichy

 DAY-1 (19.2.2018)
The opening ceremony started at 9 am on 19.02.2017, where the chief guest was Hon’ble Ms.
Justice Indira Banerjee who is the Chief Justice of Madras High Court and also the
Chancellor of TNNLS. There were many other junior judges present. She shared lot of her
own college life experiences and how she braved to be an advocate which was inspiring.

First day we were allotted Intellectual Property Appellate Board but after reaching there we
realised that there is no sitting there till next week. Also there was a strike happening among
lawyers, hence due to this Black day there were no proceedings in many of the tribunals such
as Tamil Nadu Information Commission.

Then we were directed by Aazad Sir to come to the High court campus and note any
proceedings in the lower courts. Our group went to the Family court. There was a case, Ashok
Kumar v. Usha, happening as to the custody of child and the question as to power of attorney
was questioned. Another case was with regard to a divorce petition filed under Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955, where the husband had treated the wife cruelly and also deserted her for
many years. The opposite party stated difficulty for the client to be present and hence asked
the judge to adjourn the case to another day.

After the morning court visit, then evening we had guest lectures. Mr. N.L. Rajah stressed on
the point how Alternate Dispute Redressal in reality should be ‘Appropriate’ Dispute
Redressal. Also Mr. Sricharan Raangarajan who is an International Corporate Attorney gave
us many corporate law questions to be solved and we discussed on the possible solutions and
different corporate law aspects.

DAY-2 (20.2.2018)
Visited the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Today. One of the main cases that were
being argued was with regard to jurisdiction of the court where the one party was praying for
the quashing of this case alleging that there has been collusive behaviour on the part of the
opposite party trying to stall the case by filing various cases in other states. The opposite
party pointed out section 422 of the Companies Act, where the tribunal has obligation to
dispose of the case expeditiously within 3 months. The facts of the case were with regard to
sudden and unfair expulsion of a member from the company for which the opposite party is
challenging the expulsion notice. One party also alleged contempt of court as they violated
many injunction orders. And another turning point in the case was when the opposite part
pointed out that the other party has approached the court under the wrong provision; it was a
setback for the other party. The proceeding closed with the court giving time to the opposite
party to reply to few of the submissions by the other party. Another case that was happening
was filed under section 397 and 398 of Companies Act, 1956, where the petitioner contended
that the company in which he applied for shares didn’t allot him the shares and without any
proper reason cancelled them and were in violation of FEMA rules. The court gave the other
party time to file their defenses to the allegations.

After coming back to the Academy, we had Dr. Nappinnai, who spoke to us on psychology and how it
is important in family disputes. She also spoke to us on how to this profession affects us
psychologically and a few techniques to get over stress. We had Ms. Vaigai, Senior Advocate talk to
us on Gender Justice and rights after the session on psychology. Ms. Vaigai spoke about the lack of
appropriate number of legislations for the protection of women and how they are influenced on a daily
basis. She concluded by saying that women protection is of utmost importance in today’s order due to
the increasing crimes against women. We had one last session by Mr. PH Arvindh Pandian, Additional
Advocate General and Senior Advocate on Litigation practice today. He told us from personal
experience how one should proceed to greater heights in the field of litigation and how to approach
the profession post law school. It was definitely an eye-opening session. Day concluded.

DAY -3 ( 21.2.2018)
High Court of Madras (Court Room Nos. 8, 10 and 34): We entered Madras High Court
Campus and made our passes. We were only allowed to fill three court room numbers and
access them and no other courts. The procedure was very time consuming as the advocates
kept coming for their passes as they had matters in them and we had to wait and let them take
the pass first. Then after procuring our respective passes we went and sat in Court room 8
where we could not hear anything as the councils and the judges were inaudible.
Consequently, we went to court room 34 which was a relatively better court as it was smaller
and we could understand the proceedings. Later in the evening we proceeded to the academy
for the guest lectures. Mr Anand Bhushan who was really interactive started the session
talking about future plans etc. Then retired justice Prabha Sridevan spoke to us about
contemporary issues in IPR and how it affects the public in general and she shared her vast
interest in IPR with us.

DAY-4 (22.2.2018)
Visited lower courts like the City Civil Court for CBI Cases and the NDPS Court. Took note
of important provisions of law being discussed and completed work for the day at court and
returned to the academy. First, we had Mr. A Ramesh, Senior Advocate who spoke to us about
criminal litigation and criminal law practice today. He spoke about the admissibility of
various kinds of evidence and also gave his insights into the jurisprudential aspects of
criminal law. Following him, we had Mr. G Rajagopalan, Additional Solicitor General of
India and Senior Advocate. He spoke to us on the intricacies of election laws, the powers and
duties of the election commission and the importance of Article 324 of the Constitution of
India. Finally, we had Mr. V Arun Roy, IAS, Commissioner of the Disabilities department,
Government of Tamil Nadu. He spoke to us on the rights given to the disabled under the Act
and the different classes of disabled people who are entitled to different benefits from the
government. Day concluded.

DAY-5 (23.2.2018)
Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT): First we
went to DRT where the judge was straight forward with councils and ruthless with the one’s
asking adjournments. We observed proceedings. It was both in Tamil and English. Then we
went to DRAT as the proceedings were over at 12:30 pm. In DRAT we observed few
proceeding as they were also over by 1:15 pm. Srinivasan & Anr vs. Vijaya Bank): Nobody
represented Vijaya Bank and the council is not present for any previous hearings also. The
Appellants want to make a personal effort on service on officials of Respondent Bank, so that
effective opportunity of hearing will be provided and the Appellant will also be in a position
to highlight instances of fraud committed by the bank and the builder “MAM Builders”. The
matter is listed for final hearing on 18th April 2018.

Completed proceedings and returned to the Judicial academy for lectures. First, we had the
Director and Deputy Director of the Tamil Nadu State Judical Academy who spoke to us
about the preparation for various judicial exams. Next, we had Mrs. Chitra Sampath, Senior
Advocate who spoke to us about the qualities needed for a person entering the legal
profession. She said that determination, patience and hard work are the main qualities needed
for a lawyer. Finally, Mr. T Mohan, Advocate, spoke to us about a career in environmental
litigation and how people are taking natural resources for granted. He stressed on the need for
safeguarding the environment and how we as lawyers can contribute towards the same