THANJAVUR: The School of Law at Shanmugha Arts Science Technology and Research Academy (Sastra) University here won the N. Natarajan Charitable Trust’s maiden criminal law moot court competition organised by the Madras Bar Association.
In the closely contested finals on Sunday, the team from Sastra comprising Kiran Kanna, Vikas Muralidharan and Sridhar Athreya beat the team from the ‘School of Excellence’ of the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University.
As many as 15 law schools in Tamil Nadu including two teams from the National Law School at Srirangam took part in the moot court competition organised by the Madras Bar Association (MBA).
The Awards were presented by Mr Justice U.U. Lalit, Supreme court judge, and Mr Justice S.K.Agnihotri of the Madras high court. In his address, Justice Lalit recalled the legal genius of senior advocate N. Natarajan, who encouraged students to take up criminal law as a specialisation with passion.
Justice Agnihotri requested the MBA to prepare a list of great jurists from the Madras Bar and arrange memorial lectures in their honour to inspire young students to take up the legal profession with pride.
The moot problem was related to sedition under section IPC 124 (A) and
on Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. The finals were judged by Justices N. Kirubhakaran and T. Raja of the Madras high court and retired judge Justice T. Sudanthiram.
The N. Natarajan Charitable Trust was also launched by Justice Lalit and senior advocate Arvind Datar, who outlined the activities of the trust which includes the annual criminal law moot, legal aid camps, scholarships, etc.
In his welcome address, R.Shanmugha Sundaram, President of the Madras Bar Association and senior advocate briefed the audience on the genesis of the moot. Offering his felicitations, M. Ravindran, former additional solicitor general, senior advocate and the first junior of N. Natarajan, recalled the historic and landmark cases argued by him, which includes the famous ‘M.R. Radha case’. Over 85 juniors of N. Natarajan also graced the occasion, said a Sastra press release here.
