One Week Faculty Development Programme - Day 6

SPEAKER 1: Mr. Pranav Rai on Personal Data Protection Law: A Global Perspective  The expert commenced his address by giving a brief overview on a few important topics linked with the theme of his discussion including data protection, data privacy and data security. The speaker then pointed out eight ‘Minimum' or ‘First generation principles (OECD 1980 and CoE 1981) which covered collective limitation principle, data quality principle, purpose specification principle, use limitation principle, openness principle, individual participation principle, and accountability principle. These principles belonged to a pre- internet era and thus lacked in some or the other way. This further paved way for ‘European’ or Second- generation principles (EU Directive 1995 and CoE Convention 2001) which were enacted after the invention of the internet. This added nine more principles to the existing set of rules. The speaker elaborately discussed EU General Data Protection Regulation, its object, accountability, and design. Towards the end of the discussion the speaker put forward statistical data showing the irregularity in protection of data being done by the existing market giants like Facebook, Google, etc along with the supposed fine that might be charged upon them. The speaker ended the discussion by briefly introducing the upcoming e-privacy regulations.

SPEAKER 2: Prof. (Dr.) Pinki Sharma on Need and Viability of Indian Civil Code

Set of laws which govern the civil laws of the citizens of the country in a manner common for all, irrespective of their caste, race, religion, place of birth, etc. The speaker discussed various landmark cases on matrimonial laws governing different sects of people like Mohd. Ahmed Shah v. Shah Bano Begum, Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India, etc. The speaker laid a great emphasis on the disparity amongst the existing personal laws of different communities. For this she also shared a number of instances where one act might have completely different consequence on other religious beliefs. For e.g., the practise of Halala in Muslim belief has no place in Hindu, Christian, or Parsee Laws similarly, Muslim law allows polygamy which is punishable in the laws governing Hindu, Christian, or Parsee personal laws. Justifying the credibility of the uniform civil code, the speaker said that the code does not aim to bring single law to fit the needs of all the religious beliefs rather it will aim to bring laws to match the diverse beliefs yet common to all. While summing up the discussion, the speaker pointed out pros and cons of the Uniform Civil Code like, the code will promote equality not only amongst the people of varied beliefs but also between genders following the same belief, it will also eliminate ambiguity among a variety of laws but might tend to hurt religious sentiments of some people.

SPEAKER 3: Prof. (DR.) Nishtha Jaswal on Evolving Contours of Fundamental Rights

The speaker explained the concept of state under Article 12 of the Indian constitution and added that it does not merely refer to a territorial piece of land rather includes all the political institutions and instrumentalities of the government. The speaker shed light on Right to Equality under Article 14 of the Indian constitution and discussed both aspects of it  i.e., equality before law and the equal protection of laws. The discussion also dealt with the concept of reasonable classification of law, intangible differentia and rational nexus. The speaker highlighted the concept of anti-arbitrariness, for which she also discussed few landmark judgements of the Supreme Court of India like Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, E. P. Royappa v. State of Tamil Nadu. The speaker also discussed reasonability test, proportionality test and the test of necessity with respect to the Indian Constitution. With respect of right to equality, she also pointed out the principle of legitimate expectation. The speaker also covered the freedom of speech and expression, its importance, and landmark cases supporting its object. It was followed by a discussion on right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution along with which the speaker also compared it with the rule of ‘due process of law' under the American Constitution. The speaker concluded the discussion by highlighting various rights upheld by the Supreme Court of India within the meaning of Article 21 of the constitution of India.

Valedictory Address by Prof. (Dr.) Nishtha Jaswal, Vice-Chancellor, HPNLU, Shimla

Prof. (Dr.) Nishtha Jaswal, while addressing the participants in her valedictory address stated  that these faculty development programmes are not organized to train academicians but are organized to refresh their mind as they are well equipped and brilliant with their mind. She then referred to slokas of Kathopanishad and words of Kautilya. Teachers are the ones who build the future of this nation and for that a teacher needs to be a role model for their students. So, whatever a teacher delivers to the students, they will try to learn those parts. She concluded by saying that the next civilization should be upgraded instead of downgraded in the field of law.

Vote of Thanks was proposed by Prof. (Dr.) R. N. Sharma, Dean, School of Law, IMS Unison University. He expressed sincere thanks to the first resource-person Professor V.K. Ahuja, Vice-Chancellor of NLU, Assam and Professor Nishtha Jaswal, Vice-Chancellor of NLU, Shimla being the last resource person of the Faculty Development Programme. He further greeted all the current and former VCs and academicians including Prof. (Dr.) Gurdip Singh, Chancellor, IMS Unison University, for addressing the participants of the FDP covering all aspects of law. He expressed vote of thanks to the participants across India for their active participation. This programme would not have been possible without co-operation of the Faculty Convenor Ms. Shalini Saxena and Co-Convenors Mr. Kshitij Kumar Rai, Mr. Hardik Daga and Ms. Maryanka Singh.  

Feedback from Participants

In the process of feedback from participants, Mr. Vivek Sharma spoke about his wonderful and enriching experience in attending the Faculty Development Programme organized by IMS Unison University. He further said that this FDP was more valuable and informative than other webinars or seminars he attended as it provided him an opportunity to hear different luminaries from different legal fields on same platform. The other participants, Mr. Noor and Mrs. Vatsla Sharma, praised the smooth and effective organization of the event.