Symbiosis Law School, Pune (SLS-P), constituent of Symbiosis International (Deemed University) in collaboration with Symbiosis Law School, Noida, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad and Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur held the Inaugural Ceremony of the 8th International Annual Research Conference on Rule of Law in Context: Indian and Global Perspectives (SYMROLIC) on 13th September 2019 at SLS, Pune. The ceremony commenced with lighting of the auspicious lamp by the dignitaries. The dignitaries included the Guest of Honour, Dr. Clemens Arzt, Director, Research institute of Public and Private Security, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany; the Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. M. K. Ramesh, Vice-Chancellor, Chair Professor, Urban Poor and the Law, National Law School of India University, Bangalore; Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, Fulbright Scholar, Dean, Faculty of Law, SIU, Director, Symbiosis Law School, Pune; special invitee, Justice (Retd.) Shalini Phansalkar Joshi and Dr.Vihar Georgiev, Sofia University, Bulgaria.
Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, Fulbright Scholar, Director, Symbiosis Law School, Pune, and Dean, Faculty of Law, SIU, in her welcome address highlighted the significance of the conference, emphasizing the fact that in order to broaden the scope of knowledge, platforms such as SYMROLIC are required. She concluded her address by remarking, “a research conference, for us, is like a festival and, we celebrate it like any other”.
The inaugural session of SYMROLIC ’19 witnessed the release of the bi-annual in-house journal ‘Lex Et’ and a compilation of abstracts received for the Conference.The conference received an overwhelming response in the form of 200 abstracts fromscholars all across the globe, of which 50 were shortlisted for presentation.
The occasion marked the release of the books titled ‘Transnational Sex-Trafficking: An Integrated Reparation Model’ by Dr. Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan, Director, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, ‘Statutory Interpretation’ (2nd Ed.), by Dr. Sukhvinder Dari, Director, Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur and ‘Witness Protection in Criminal Trials in India’ by Dr.Gireesh Abhyankar, Assistant Professor, Symbiosis Law School, Pune.
It was followed by the inaugural and introduction of the Symbiosis Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution (SCADR) by the faculty members of SLS-P, Prof. Shirish Kulkarni, Prof. Nitin Kumar and Prof. Sunistha Moghe. The inaugural ceremony also included the launch and opening of the Symbiosis Legal Skills Centre, which was introduced by Dr. Atmaram Shelke, Dr. Abhijit Kelkar & Dr. Santosh Aghav and the launch of the EURASIA website spear headed by Dr.Aparajita Mohanty, Prof. Sujata Arya, Prof. Raj Varma along with Dr.Vihar Georgiev, Sofia University, Bulgaria. All the three initiatives were inaugurated by Special Invitee Justice (Retd.) Shalini Phansalkar Joshi.
In his address, the esteemed Guest of Honour, Dr. Clemens Arzt, Director, Research institute of Public and Private Security, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany remarked that research conferences present an interesting platform for dissemination and exchange of information.
The Chief Guest, Prof. Dr. M. K. Ramesh, Vice-Chancellor, Chair Professor, Urban Poor and the Law, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, addressed the gathering and expressed admiration for the meteoric rise of SLS-P, a sign of which was the 8th Edition of SYMROLIC. He remarked that, “This Annual Conference is a real feast for an academician like me because of the impactful steps being taken in the field of learning.”
Justice (Retd) Shalini Phansalkar Joshi also spoke about her vision for mobilization of the departments launched to boost the culture and ecosystem of arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution methods for effective justice delivery.
The event ended on a positive note with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr. Bindu Ronald, Deputy Director, Symbiosis Law School, Pune.
This was immediately followed by a plenary session conducted at the Professional Development and Continuing Legal Education Hall. The speakers for the session included Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, Director, Symbiosis Law School, Pune and Dean, Faculty of Law, SIU, Dr.Siobhàn Mullally, Professor of Human Rights Law, NUI Galway, Prof. Dr. M. K. Ramesh, Vice- Chancellor (Full Additional Charge) and Chair Professor, Urban Poor and the Law at National Law School of India University, Bangalore and Dr. Urvashi Rathod, Director of Symbiosis Centre for Research and Innovation (SCRI), SIU.
The session commenced with Dr. Shashikala Gurpur discussing the Rule of Law in contextof approach and thrust areas synergy. Dr.Gurpur stressed on the importance of teaching law not as an isolated stream but in tandem with other disciplines. She further elaborated on the various institutes that Symbiosis Law School, Pune, has been collaborating with, tomake law more in conjunctionwith the current social and economic scenario.
The next speaker of the session was Professor Siobhàn Mullally who joined the discussion via Skype. The purpose of the discourse was to introduce ‘Migration, Asylum and Citizenship Law in Ireland’. She also spoke about Britain’s efforts to exit from the European Union and its effect on Irish laws.
Prof. Dr. M. K. Ramesh in his address focused on ‘Urban Poor and the Ruleof Law’. He recounted his journey that led him to focus his research on the relationship between urbanpoverty and the Rule of Law. He also spoke about his collaboration with theMinistry of Urban Development on urban poverty alleviation, which created a new niche for the collaborative study oflaw and urban poverty.
The last speaker, Dr. Urvashi Rathod spoke on the topic of ‘Legal and Ethical Considerationsin Innovation, Science and Technology: Way forward’. Dr. Rathod, who specialises in the field of science, gave a different view on law, where she linked it to technological innovation. She highlighted the significance of law in the protection and precaution of technology through legislative efforts.
The plenary was followed by tracks on various subjects. The first track on ‘Law and Human Behaviour’, was chaired by Dr.Preetha Menon, Head, Symbiosis Centre for Behavioural Studies, SIU and Prof. (Dr.) Jeet Singh Mann, Director, Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Governance, National Law University, Delhi.
The second track on ‘Business, Trade, Commerce, Management and Law’ was chaired by Adv. Sampath Bulusu, General Manager and Head (Legal), Shell Hazira LNG and Port, Director, Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd. and Shell Energy India Pvt. Ltd and co-chaired by Dr.Sukhvinder Dari, Director and Associate Professor, Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur.
The third track of the conference, relating to ‘International Law, Policy and Governance’ was chaired by Dr. T R Subramanya, Dean, School of Legal Studies, CMR University, Bangalore, and co-chaired by Dr. Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan, Director, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad.
The first day ended with aWorkshop on “Practical Aspects of EU Funding -Proposal, Application And Academic Project Management”conducted by Prof. Mirko Varano, Senior Advisor, International Projects, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden and Prof. Christofer Fredriksson, International Relations Coordinator and Program Advisor, Stockholm Universityof Arts, Stockholm, Sweden. The speakers gave insights into how to set up a successfulproject for Erasmus+ and introduced various tools one could use to ensure its sustainability.
Day 2 (14th September, 2019) commenced with the presentations of papers in three tracks. Track 4 on ‘European Studies in Law, Management, Humanities, Science, Trade and Economics’ was chaired by Prof Vihar Georgiev, Assistant Professor, European Studies Department, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and co-chaired by Prof. Mirko Varano, Senior Advisor International Projects, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University Administration, International Relations Office, Stockholm, Sweden. Prof. Christofer Fredriksson, Independent Consultant, International Relations Coordinator and Programme Advisor, Stockholm University of Arts, Stockholm, Sweden.
This was followed by Track 5 on ‘Innovation, Science, Technology and Law’, chaired by Dr. Urvashi Rathod, Director, Symbiosis Centre for Research and Innovation, SIU and Prof. Dr. C. J. Rawandale, Director and Professor, Symbiosis Law School, Noida.
The final track for paper presentations was Track 6 on ‘Public Law, Society and Governance’ which was chaired by Prof. Clemens Arzt, Director, Research institute of Public and Private Security, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany and co-chaired by Prof. Dr. Jeet Singh Mann, Director, Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Governance, National Law University, Delhi.
This was followed by a workshop on ‘Qualitative Research using Non-Doctrinal Methodology’ conducted by Dr. Pramod Damle, Chairman, Editorial Board, Telecom Business Review. In this session, he discussed various exampleson theapplication of such research methodology, data coding and conducted interactiveactivities for the practical understanding of the same.
The proceedings of the day concluded with a workshop by Dr. Manisha Gore, Assistant Professor, SCOPE, Symbiosis International University, who gave an insight into the topic of‘Qualitative Design with Software’.
The valedictory ceremony commenced with an address byAdv. Sampath Bulusu, where he took a moment to remember Adv. Ram Jethmalani, and stated that September 14th being the late professor’s birthday, thesuccessful conclusion of SYMROLIC is as good as a befitting tribute to Adv. Jethmalani and hisideals. Adv. Bulusu went on to emphasize on the need for innovative research in theestablished fields of law such as the law relating to Evidence, Civil and CriminalProcedural laws, etc. and encouraged students to pursue the same. He concluded his address by appreciating the quality of research as well as thenovelty of ideas and concepts presented therein.
Prof. Clemens Arzt, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany then addressed the gathering and expressedhis feeling of being overwhelmed by the diverse topics and ideas introduced in thecourse of the conference. He also provided valuable feedback to the participants andappreciated theirefforts in presenting their papers.
Thereafter, Prof. Vihar Georgiev, Assistant Professor, European Studies Department, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, delivered his address, in which he elaboratedon the importance of inter-disciplinary studies and comparative analysis of diverse topics. He appreciated, in particular, the concept of discussing the rule of law ‘incontext’ as it allowed the opportunity to learn and share knowledge in relation tovarious fields.
Finally, the much-awaited results of the conference were announced. The award for winner of the First Track, was given to Dr. Mahesh Deshpande, for his paper, ‘Death Penalty in Non-Homicide Offences.’For the second track, Dr. Prathamesh Milind Joshi was awarded the winner for his paper, ‘Role of Transfer Pricingin Shaping of Global Policies.’ The winner of the third track was Dr. S. R. Subramanian,for his paper on ‘Third Party Funding in International Arbitration and InvestmentArbitration. The fourth track winners were Dr. Rupal RautDesai, Nimisha Shukla and Swani Chothe for their paper ‘EU and IPR: Counterfeit Goods and PiratedGoods within the EU economy.’ Further, the award for winner of the fifth track, went to Sameer Avasarala and Samiya Zehra, for their paper on ‘Data Security in Modern India: Revisiting DataLocalization, Entity Localization and Anonymization Mandates. In the final track, Prof. Priyanka Majumdar received the awardfor her paper, ‘Does the Perception of Corporal Punishment Inflicted in SchoolsImpact the Implementation of Laws Prohibiting It? An Empirical Study with Special Reference to Binovanagar, Guwahati, Assam, India.’
Another highlight of the valedictory ceremony was the prize distribution for the two major essay competitions organised by Symbiosis Law School, Pune, viz., Juristas International Law Essay Competition and Indian Legal Thought Essay Competition in association with Sriprabha Foundation. Dr. Bindu Ronald, Deputy Director, Symbiosis Law School, Pune delivered the vote of thanks.