“CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SOCIETY NLUO Organized A Book Launch Of The Book Titled ‘The Supreme Court And The Constitution – An Indian Discourse’”.
"CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SOCIETY NLUO Organized A Book Launch Of The Book Titled ‘The Supreme Court And The Constitution – An Indian Discourse’".
On 19th October 2020, The Constitutional Society of National Law University Odisha, under the aegis of Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor (I/C) Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh successfully organized a Book Launch of the book titled ‘The Supreme Court and the Constitution – An Indian Discourse’ through Virtual Conferencing The book has been edited by Mr. Salman Khurshid (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India and eminent jurist), Dr. Lokendra Malik (Advocate, Supreme Court of India and eminent jurist) and Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh (Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor (I/C) of NLU, Odisha). The Chief Guest for the prestigious event was Hon’ble Mr. Justice A.K. Sikri (Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India). The Book Launch was honoured with the presence ofProf. (Dr.) Upendra Baxi(Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi and reputed legal scholar), Prof. (Dr.) Ranbir Singh (Founding Vice-Chancellor, National Law University, Delhi and NALSAR University of Law) and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Hon’ble Member of Parliament). The event was also graced by Mr. Shireesh Sahai (CEO, Wolters Kluwer Publishing Co.).
The prestigious event started with the welcome address by Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap Singh, in which he recognised the efforts of all the esteemed dignitaries in the making of this book and also acknowledged the contribution of authors of different chapters of the book. The Introduction of the Book was then given by Dr. Lokendra Malik. He emphasised upon the need for the book to do a critical analysis of the Supreme Court Judgments in recent times. This book contains a detailed analysis of the problems present in the judicial system and an attempt has been made to discuss them, in light of bringing more transparency and accountability to the judicial system.Mr. Salman Khurshid then expressed a great deal of respect for Mr. Upendra Baxi.Mr. Salman Khurshid dedicated this book titled ‘The Supreme Court and the Constitution – An Indian Discourse’ to Mr. Upendra Baxi in light of the contributions he has made in the field of law. His major contribution has been to the chapter dealing with the fundamental rights of the individuals, LGBTQ community and minority groups. In Mr. Khurshid’s opinion, this book is an attempt to bring Supreme closer to the people of this country, an attempt to make them understand what the Supreme Court is doing.
Prof. (Dr.) Ranbir Singh then took a holistic approach to explain the impact of this book with the idea of the Rule of Law and the importance of the 3 organs to take efforts to show more concern about the welfare of the people. He highlighted the need for a strong judiciary and how it makes up a vital part in upholding the individual rights of the people.Prof. (Dr.) Upendra Baxithen contributed with the notion of the development of constitutional morality along with political morality in constitutional jurisprudence. He raised extremely intriguing questions concerning judicial activism, the provisions of Directive Principles of State Policy and Judicial Appointments in contemporary times. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi believed that this book succeeded in igniting a discussion on the independence of the judiciary and their accountability.However, this book having been written in the middle of the pandemicmissed out the opportunity of addressing the issues concerning setting up and functioning of virtual courts, the impact of the pandemic on the judicial system and Dr. Singhvi provided valuable input regarding the reality of Virtual Courts based on his own experiences. The Chief Guest, Justice A.K. Sikri then stressed on minority rights as a major challenge that the country is facing and recollected some parts of Dr. Ambedkar’s speeches in the Constituent Assembly Debates. He was of this opinion that this book consists of majorly 2 parts, one dealing with the Supreme Court and the other part dealing with the constitution and what were its vision and philosophy. According to him, this book succeeds in making the readers inquisitive about the subject. As a former Judge of the Supreme Court himself, he recognised the importance of holding Rule of law in high regard whilst bridging the gap between law and society.
After the highly academic discussion on various constitutional law aspects by some pioneers of the field, the vote of thanks was given by Mr. Shireesh Sahai, representing Wolters Kluwer Publishing Co. He recognised the importance of such books and the need for their publishing in order to incite a response and implant an idea in budding lawyers’ minds. This Book Launch event was attended by interested students and other members of the legal fraternity, who must feel privileged to get an opportunity to hear the opinions of some of the finest minds in the field of constitutional law.
