This year, along with invited speakers for the various panels, interested students and professionals in the legal and associated fields are invited to submit proposals for presenting their papers during the conference.
If accepted, the applicant will get a chance to present their paper/ideas as a part of the panel, and proposals shall also be developed into papers that will be published by the Blog. The proposals should pertain to either of the six themes of the panels.
Themes for the Panels
This year, LAOT is inviting submissions from authors on the themes of each panel. They are:
- The State of the Judiciary
- Public Health Crisis and the Constitution
- Emerging Voices – The Shamnad Basheer Memorial Roundtable
- Contemporary Issues in Indian Federalism
- Environmentalism and Governance in South Asia
- Civil Liberties and Criminal Justice
More details about each panel can be found in the attached concept note here.
Eligibility
Proposals are invited from students and professionals from the legal field as well as allied disciplines. Since the objective of this Call for Proposals is to make the conference more accessible to a younger demographic, those who are under the age of 30 years will be given priority.
Structure and Rewards
- The authors of the best entry corresponding with each theme will be selected to participate in the respective panels (allowing for virtual or in-person participation). Our aim is to have at least one speaker in each panel identified through this route. The selected authors will get the opportunity to present their work alongside established scholars and practitioners.
- Please note that the proposals will be closely scrutinized and that the selection process is likely to be quite competitive. The conference organizers reserve the right to not select any entries, if they do not meet a certain qualitative threshold.
- The participants may adopt any suitable means for presenting their work, including audio-visual aids or a PowerPoint presentation. The selected participants will have at least 15 minutes to make their respective presentations.
Criteria for Selection
The proposals shall be evaluated on the following grounds:
- framing of the research question/s,
- the choice of research methodology (if appropriate/relevant for the topic that is discussed),
- treatment of the research question/s in the literature,
- the framing of the central argument and the quality of substantiation of the chosen issues,
- originality of the ideas/arguments presented, and
- relevance of the chosen topic, in respect of the existing scholarship related to Indian Constitutional Law and the Indian Legal System.
Participation Guidelines
- Co-authorship of entries (maximum two) among individuals from the same or different institutions is allowed.
- Multiple entries by the same author(s) are not allowed.
- Entries should be original, unpublished, and non-plagiarised.
Submission Guidelines
- Word Limit: The proposal must be 1000-1500 words in length, excluding footnotes.
- Mode: Please fill the google form through the link given at the end of this post to apply. No submissions will be entertained made through any mode other than the google form.
- Font and size for the essay: Times New Roman – 12
- Font and size for footnotes: Times New Roman – 10
- Paper Size: A4
- Line spacing: 1.5
- Margin: 1” from all sides
- Alignment: Justified
- Document Type: Word Document
- Citation Style: Footnotes/Endnotes must be properly cited in a uniform style of your choice. Footnotes are preferred over endnotes.
Miscellaneous Rules
- The copyright for all entries shall vest with the LAOT Committee who herewith reserve the right to modify, postpone or defer the selection indefinitely as and when exigencies of an unforeseen nature may arise.
- Any attempt, direct or indirect, to contact the panel of judges will be met with the immediate disqualification of the relevant entry.
- Any indication of the author’s name or university in the entry shall lead to immediate disqualification from the Competition. Details about the author may only be specified in the body of the mail and the name of the author must not be mentioned in the name or properties of the word document submitted.
Important Dates
- Last date for submission of manuscript: February 25, 2022. Late entries will not be entertained.
- Authors shall be intimated of the selection of their proposal by March 10, 2022
Contact Information
- E-Mail Address (for queries): courtsandconstitution[at]gmail.com
- Shravani Shendye: 9399736197
- Eeshan Sonak: 8380074901
About the organizer
The inaugural edition of the Courts and the Constitution Conference took place on 26-27 January 2019, with the theme “2018: Year in Review”. It was a first-of-its-kind initiative in India and discussed the major legal developments and landmark judgments of the year 2018 in light of their long-term impact on the governance and rights of the Republic. The second edition of the conference, “The Republic at 70: Past, Present and Future Directions” was hosted on 25-26 January 2020. More than 25 legal luminaries participated in multiple panels on Developments in Equality Jurisprudence, Reforming Tribunals, Federalism and the Constitution, and Citizenship, Residency and the Constitution, as well as public guest lectures on capital punishment, among others. The featured speakers in the past two editions included, inter alia, Arun Thiruvengadam, Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Arvind Narain, Chintan Chandrachud, Nizam Pasha, Suhrith Parthasarathy, Aparna Chandra, Anup Surendranath, Arundhati Katju, Alok Prasanna Kumar, Malavika Prasad, Harish Narsappa, Rohit De, Suchindran Bhaskaran, Ujwala Uppaluri, as well as N.R. Madhava Menon, M.P. Singh and Indira Jaisingh. Both the editions were co-organized by the Editorial Team of the Law and Other Things Blog, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, and the School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, and took place in-person at NALSAR. The third edition will be hosted on 26-27 March 2022, in a hybrid model (in-person as well as limited online streaming) in light of the extraordinary circumstances created due to the pandemic. “‘The Courts and the Constitution – 2020 & 2021 in Review’ is scheduled for March 26-27, 2022. This conference is being co-organised by the Editorial Team of the Law and Other Things Blog, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad and Azim Premji University, Bangalore. In addition to the invited speakers, proposals for presentations by students, researchers and professionals who are below 30 years of age are invited. The proposals must relate to the themes that will be covered as part of the conference agenda.
Speakers
