COMMONWEALTH LEGAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5 HX
Website: http://www.clea-web.com; Email : clea@commonwealth.int
Commonwealth Comparative Constitutional & Public Law Project
7th December, 2018
The expression ‘Commonwealth’ connotes a heritage, legacy and perhaps depicts the idea of ‘governance’ based on certain ideals which are universally accepted norm in every legal system of modern era. The Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA), an association of legal educators, founded in 1971, with its regional Chapters and Committees in South Asia, Southern Africa, West Africa, the Caribeean and the UK. The CLEA has taken various steps towards promoting high standards of legal education in Commonwealth Countries. The CLEA-(South Asia) has entered into a MoU with the Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida and established a Commonwealth Institute for Justice Education and Research (CIJER) at the Lloyd Law College, which aims to take the objectives of CLEA to a new height. In pursuit of maximizing justice in society and promoting good governance under the Rule of Law in commonwealth countries, the law reform and developments play an important role. Any such research and academic exercise would lead towards having uniform legal principles, standards and regulations across the commonwealth country. It is also pertinent to note that the globalization and internationalization of trade has led to the harmonization of norms, practices and laws in multiple jurisdictions; and hence, it is apt to research into the possibility of more harmonization of legal norms and constitutional principles in the commonwealth countries.
CLEA South Asia Conference 2018 on ‘Comparative Constitutional Law: Developments and its Teaching Techniques in Commonwealth Nations’ was organized from 21-33, 2018 at School of Legal Studies, Mody University of Science & Technology, (Rajasthan, India). In the said conference, it was proposed by Prof (Dr.) S. Sivakumar, (Conference Chair & Executive Members, CLEA & President, CLEA South Asia) to follow up the academic research on the topic by undertaking a research project. After the deliberations it was resolved to undertake Commonwealth Comparative Constitutional and Public Law Project. The Study will cover constitutional and public law aspects in the commonwealth countries as far as it relates to the scope of the project. Hence the CLEA has decided to establish the Project on Commonwealth Comparative Constitutional and Public Law (3C&PL) under the leadership of Professor (Dr.) S. Sivakumar, Vice-President and trustee of CLEA and President, CLEA (South Asia).
Through this project, the CLEA will venture into extensive research and deliberations on constitutional developments across the globe and commonwealth countries in specific. It mainly focuses on three aspects in three phases addressing Teaching, Lawyering and Justice delivery viz.,
I. Preparing for Comparative Law Teaching
II. Preparing for Comparative Law Lawyering
III. Facilitating justice delivery institutions keeping the Comparative Law Perspective in the background
The outcome of 3C&PL is going to be a unique blend of a comparative perspective on the Constitution and Constitutionalism keeping the inevitable impact and effect of globalization and growth of constitutionalism as a basic tenet of governance. The project is tentatively estimated to the tune of more than 1,00,000 Sterling Pounds inclusive of the budget for Roundtable and training programmes/conferences/workshops, etc.
It has decided to have a Project on Commonwealth Comparative Constitutional and Public Law (3C&PL) with a Director, a Principal Investigator and Chief Coordinator and minimum of three Coordinators and Co-investigators and such number of Members of team (will decide by the Project Director) and an Advisory Committee which will be constituted by the Director in consultation with CLEA president. The Honorary Project Team will consist of the following members:
Director : Prof. (Dr.) S. Sivakumar, President, CLEA (South Asia)/
Professor, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi
Principal Investigator and Chief Coordinator:
Dr. Lisa P Lukose, Associate Professor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
Coordinators and Co-investigators:
Mr. Ravi Prakash, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Dr. Kavitha Chalakkal, Asst. Director, CIJER, Lloyd Law College
The CLEA (South Asia) shall implement the project through CIJER, Lloyd Law College (the project office) which will solely be responsible for facilitating inter alia administratively and financially. Mr. Manohar Thairani, Secretary, CIJER/President, Lloyd Law College shall be the Nodal Authority for the Project.
Under the aegis of the Lloyd Law College Research Centre, various research projects are undertaken from time to time. Presently, the following research projects are being undertaken under the Research Cell:
1. Ragging: Problems and Challenges
The Research Centre of Lloyd Law College along with the Lloyd Law College Legal Aid Cell has undertaken an empirical study on the issue of ‘ragging’. The project titled Ragging: Problems and Challenges focus on the implementation of anti-ragging laws and the allied decisions on the subject. As a part of the project, the team plans to collect data from various academic institutions located in and around Greater Noida about the implementation and institutional compliance of the anti-ragging laws.
2. Illegal Human Organ Trade in India: A study of the International Socio-Legal Perspective
According to a report by NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) published in the year 2005, states on an average any year there are 44000 children goes missing and out of which 11000 remain untraced.[1] In past one year in Uttar Pradesh alone 1914 children have been reported missing out of which only 1036 were traced by the police
3. Rights’ Sensitisation: An Analysis of Rights’ Awareness of School Children in Delhi NCR
The question of the safety and security of school children in India has been at the forefront of the minds of guardians and educational personnel alike. While children form the greatest asset of a nation, their lack of awareness about their rights, resources and safety measures make them an easy target for emotional and physical abuse, leading to the perpetuation of toxic gender attitudes and roles that lead to crimes against women.