By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 9 Apr: The 9th edition of the “Dr Paras Diwan Memorial ‘Energy Laws’ International Moot Court Competition” concluded successfully at UPES on 7 April. This annually held competition was organised under the aegis of the ‘Moot Court Association’ (MCA), School of Law (SOL) of the University from 5- 7 April at its Kandoli campus and witnessed participation of 26 reputed Law Universities: 24 from 14 states of India and one, each, from Nepal and Bangladesh. UPES has been organising this annual competition since 2011 in the memory of Dr Paras Diwan, an eminent jurist and legal luminary known for his immense lifetime contributions in the field of law. The moot court theme for this year was ‘International Energy Law along with Bilateral Treaty & Cross Border Investment’.
The Chief Guest Dr Adish C Aggrawala, President, International Council of Jurists and the former Chairman, Indian Bar Association, inaugurated the event in the presence of Guest of Honour Prof (Dr) Amit Ludri, General Secretary, International Council of Jurists, London, and members of the UPES fraternity, Sharad Mehra – CEO UPES; Dr Parag Diwan, Founding VC, UPES; Arun Dhand, Sr Director, Public Affairs, and Dr Tabrez Ahmad, Dean, SOL, etc.
The Chief Guest also felicitated the young faculty members who had completed 5 years of commendable service in SOL, along with the student academics and extra co-curricular achievers. Around 80 students from reputed national universities/colleges took part.
Greeting the participants, Dr Tabrez Ahmad, Chairman, MCA, SOL, briefed the teams on the rules of the moot court competition. The Chief Guest shared his insight on importance of taking into consideration the international energy law and the role of various bilateral treaties in this area. Welcoming the participants, Prof Ludri gave his blessings for a competitive moot.
The preliminary rounds witnessed intense battles of intelligent arguments, witty rebuttals and surrebuttals elevating the top eight teams to a well-fought ‘Quarter Finals’. Teams from Lloyd Law College, Noida; Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam; Christ University, Bengaluru, and Chanakya National Law University, Patna qualified for the Semi-Finals. Lloyd Law College and Chanakya National Law University Teams progressed to the Finals. Team Chanakya National Law University claimed the Winner’s Trophy with a cash prize, books and individual subscriptions to SCC Online resources amounting to Rs 1,25,000, while Lloyd Law College won the Runners-up Trophy with a cash prize, books and subscriptions to SCC Online resources amounting to Rs 74,000.
The ‘Best Memorial Award’ Trophy also went to Lloyd Law College with prize money of Rs 42,500. Sakshi Duggal from Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, bagged the ‘Best Speaker Award’, consisting of a Trophy and prize money of Rs 35,200. Pallavi Joshi from Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal, was adjudged the ‘Best Researcher’ and presented a trophy along with Rs 35,200 as the prize money. The event was judged by 45 legal luminaries.
During the Valedictory Session, Chief Guest R Venkatramani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, applauded UPES for bringing forward the challenges in the Energy Sector. Guest of Honour Raj Singh Niranjan, Energy Law Expert & Managing Partner, Trans India Law Associates shared his views on the challenges of the Indian Energy Sector. Buddy A Ranganadhan, Advocate, Supreme Court; Parag Diwan, Peeyushi Diwan, Advocate, Punjab & Haryana High Court were among the other dignitaries present.
The ‘MCA’ Faculty Coordinator Dr Mamta Rana thanked the organising team comprising Faculty Convener Ashish Jain; Faculty Co-convenor Pooja Gautam and Joyanta Chakraborty; Student Convenor Girdhar G Khattar; Student Co-Convenor Anuj Karnatak; Student Secretary Alini; Student Joint Secretary, Nayan Tara; Student Treasurer Shikher Upadhyay; Aditi Sharma; Shubh Aggarwal; Anish Yadav; Siddharth Srivastava; Alok Bhatt; Sadhna and others.
A cultural evening, ‘Cultural Fiesta’, in conjunction with the cultural groups from UPES -IZHAAR& and Paradigm mesmerised the participants. A DJ Dance night for participants and organising committee followed the performances.
