Legal titans to speak at ‘1st Justice HR Khanna Memorial Symposium’ on August 14

The Confederation of Alumni for National Law Universities (CAN Foundation), has partnered with National Law University, Jodhpur and the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar to host the ‘1st Justice HR Khanna Memorial National Symposium’ on August 14, 2021.

The Symposium is being organised in the remembrance of the august persona of Late Justice HR Khanna and will involve lively discussions on issues ranging from ‘Nurturing Constitutional Values’ to ‘Strengthening Virtual Courts’.

It will feature renowned legal luminaries in the esteemed panel of speakers and will be conducted over the course of two seessions in the virtual mode.

Pre-Lunch Session

The Pre-Lunch Session will be graced by the Chief Guest, Justice UU Lalit (Judge, Supreme Court) who will initiate the discussion by delivering the Keynote Address on the theme – ‘Reflections on J. HR Khanna - Nurturing India's Constitutional Fabric’.

Following the same, the Panelist, Senior Advocate PS Narasimha will enlighten the audience on topics veering around the theme for this session.

The Pre-Lunch Session shall pay homage to Late Justice HR Khanna and shall feature a commemoration of the Judge's legacy, including his celebrated dissent in the case of ADM Jabalpur v. Shivakant Shukla.

The Panelists will speak on the important values that Justice Khanna embodied and his contributions, including his landmark tie-breaking Judgement in the matter of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala.

The Speakers will also delve into the necessity of incorporating these values into our lives given their utmost importance in contemporary times.

Post-Lunch Session

In the Post-Lunch Session, the Presiding Guest, Justice V Ramasubramanian (Judge, Supreme Court) will deliver the Keynote Address on the theme – ‘Strengthening Doorstep Justice - Augmenting Access to Virtual Courts’.

It shall be followed by the Guest of Honour, Justice S Muralidhar (Chief Justice, Orissa High Court) and Panelists Senior Advocates Shyam Divan and Neeraj K Kaul who will address the audience on topics revolving around the aforementioned theme.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a copious amount of catastrophes impacting our justice delivery system to a great extent. As fate would have it, the entire Judicial System had to shift to virtual mode.

It cannot be gainsaid that the best thing that came out of COVID-19 is ‘virtual hearing’. This paradigm shift in the Indian judicial system invites discussion and deliberation on enabling access to virtual courts.

Though Virtual Courts are citizen-friendly and extremely affordable, in reality, the response of Indian Judicial System, especially at the High Courts and Subordinate Courts level, has been visibly tepid.

Many High Courts of the country are still grappling with issues of having convenient, systemic and organised Virtual Court infrastructure. As a result of this, despite lofty discussion on the necessity and importance of Virtual Courts, the implementing agencies at the grassroots level are still dragging their feet in making them a permanent and perpetual feature.

Issues of will power of the decision makers, connectivity and streamlining continue to hinder the making of Virtual Courts an effective substitute or supplement to the Physical Court system. The session delve into many such contentious and grey areas of discussion.

A detailed Minute-To-Minute Run Sheet of the Symposium is also available.

Further information pertaining to the Symposium is available on the official website of the Foundation: https://canfoundation.in/justice-hr-khanna.

An E-Brochure for the Symposium has also been released which highlights the comprehensive details of the Symposium and its Panelists. The E-Brochure. It may be accessed through: https://canfoundation.in/justice-hr-khanna.

Registration for the Symposium may be done by filling the form available here: https://forms.gle/G2gtfxRfSNKsarBP7.