Madras High Court to state government, Set date for starting classes in new law

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The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to fix a date for starting classes in the new law college premises before the commencement of the next academic year on July 9, 2018.

A division bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and V Parthiban passed interim orders on a public interest litigation filed by an advocate, seeking a direction to the government to provide sufficient infrastructure and facilities to the students of all government law colleges in the state.

When the PIL came up for hearing, the bench sought details of shifting of the Dr Ambedkar Law College as per the orders of the first bench, pursuant to the clash between two groups of students.

The judges noted that the government took a decision to set up two law colleges - one in Pattarai Perumbudur village, Thiruvallur district, and the other in Pudupakkam village, Kanchipuram district.

The shifting of the college should be completed soon so that classes can begin from July 9 as scheduled, they said. If there was any problem in implementing the court order or any hindrance caused by anybody, the DGP, the Commissioner of Police and superintendent of Police of Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts would ensure no obstruction is caused, the bench said.

Originally the PIL was filed seeking appointment of lecturers in government law colleges and infrastructure in all the law colleges.

Following this, the government passed an order sanctioning 186 full-time teaching posts. The petitioner then filed a miscellaneous petition seeking to stay the recruitment process, saying it has to be done fairly and in a transparent manner.

Based on the petition, the court on October 10, 2017, restrained the government from publishing any notification for filling up the posts.

On October 22, the government decided to appoint a four-member expert committee to select lecturers, with Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, retired Chief Justice of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir as its chairman. The bench then requested the committee chairman to nominate, additionally, a reputed academician of his choice, either from the state or from other states, to be included as a member of the committee.

The bench, while dealing with the appointment of lecturers, directed the committee to monitor the entire process of selection for 186 posts of assistant professor/assistant professor (Pre-Law) and made it clear that the decision of the chairman of the panel will be final on any issue.

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