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Symbiosis Law School, Pune a constituent of Symbiosis International (Deemed University), in association with Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Trust, Mumbai organized the 12th edition of Nani A. Palkhivala Inter-Collegiate Elocution Competition in its Moot Court Hall today 31st January 2019. We are honoured to have the panel of judges comprising of Mr. S. S. Sohoni, IAS (Retd.), Shri R. V. Deshmukh, Principal District and Sessions Judge (Retd.), Mr. Rahul Kothari, Advocate and Co-Founder of Squarely Legal, and Dr. Aparajita Mohanty, Associate Prof., SLS-Pune.
Dr. Aparajita Mohanty welcomed the students and apprised the audience of the 12-year legacy of this competition which is organized to commemorate Mr. Palkhivala’s astute legal knowledge and oratory skills. She then extolled the legal achievements of Mr. Palkhivala and commended his courage that led him to overcome his speech impediment. Dr. Mohanty concluded by saying, “A lawyer must have abilities to overcome limitations”.
10 participants from different colleges of Pune city spoke on the following topics: ‘Are Indian Courts interfering into the domain of the Executive? And if so, is it permissible under our Constitution?’, ‘Right to Equality versus Right to Practice Personal Religious Belief: The new tussle in the field of Fundamental Rights?’ and ‘Protection of Women, Children and Weaker Sections of Society: Have our Laws Failed?’
Hon’ble Justice R.V. Deshmukh, appreciated the performance of the participants and shared his wisdom & expertise with them. He highlighted the importance of ‘presence of mind’ for the members of the legal fraternity and congratulated the students for their stellar performances. Adv. Kothari enumerated the criteria encompassing the understanding of the topic, clarity of thought, body language, diction and, content which the students must take into consideration in order to hone their elocutionary skills. Mr. Sohoni appraised the organizers & the participants and quoted Hobbes, “Law is the reflection of public conscience”.
Then came the most awaited moment when the results were announced. The first position was shared by Ms. Himanshi Jain of Balaji Law College and Mr. Roop Jain of Symbiosis Law School, Pune. The second position was awarded to Ms. Bhakti Mutha of D.E.S. Law College and Mr. Shubham Joshi of Y.C. Law College secured the third position. The winners were awarded certificates along with cash prizes worth Rs. 5000/-, Rs. 3000/- & Rs. 2000/- each respectively.
