On July 7 last, law students in Nagaland took out multiple protests demanding the state government to establish government-run law institutions in the state. Even to say that the demand is genuine, is to really undersell the gravity of the issue. Of the many voices that emerged from the protests that day, a particular phrase stood out. One of the student leaders called the absence of a government-run law college in Nagaland as the most profound show of negligence by the state government.
It is difficult to argue with that assertion. Until very recently the concept, understanding, interpretation and execution of law by the people of Nagaland were very different to that of others. In some places, it is still so. Thus, the modern concept of law is still uncharted territory for most people in Nagaland. It is in the backdrop of this broader context that we should see the law student’s demand for government-run law college(s) in Nagaland.
It goes without saying that legal education has an important role to play in the establishment of law-abiding society. Excellence in legal education and research is extremely important, because it will help shape the quality of the rule of law. The invaluable experiences that legal education can offer to future lawyers are several. Primary among them is exposure. To a wide range of legal subjects – procedure, contracts, torts, criminal law, evidence, constitutional law, corporate law, property law, administrative law, jurisdiction, labor law, commercial law and on and on and on. These are essential for the intelligent practice of law.
It also offers law students a supervised, rigorous and disciplined opportunity to learn practical legal skills though clinics, externships and trial practice and negotiation courses. This represents a superior way for young lawyers to gain skills rather than by running thankless errands for established lawyers who are often too busy to teach them. In a nutshell, legal education is a form of human science that offers beyond techniques, skills and competences the basic philosophies, ideologies, critiques, and instrumentalities all addressed to the creation and maintenance of a just society.
Again with this backdrop, we must take note of the protesting students’ assertion that studying law in private-run colleges is too expensive. Moreover, lack of infrastructure, proper libraries, faculty and resources in these colleges have been listed as reasons that make it “even more difficult for students to pursue their studies”. One of the protestors raised the question: if the public and student organizations had felt the need for a law college in the late ‘80s, how come the state government was yet to come to similar realization even today.
While the reality is that it’s not only law colleges but all other colleges that were neglected during the late ‘80s to late ‘90s in Nagaland, the judiciary in its entire structure has always played second fiddle to the executive in Nagaland. The department of law was always, and still is, considered as a department with no funds. As pointed out by one of the principals of the private-run law colleges, the state government has not even been able to separate the judiciary from the executive as yet. Clearly, this apathy towards the entire judiciary must go. And the sooner, the better.
