Cuttack: Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Mishra will grace the fourth annual convocation of National Law University, Odisha (NLUO) here on Saturday evening. He is also Visitor of the varsity.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will be the Guest of Honour while Chief Justice of Odisha High Court and Chancellor, NLUO, Justice Vineet Saran will also grace the occasion.
According to a press release, 145 students will be conferred degrees, out of which 114 are undergraduate students – 59 students of B.A L.L.B and 55 students of B.B.A L.L.B, 30 L.L.M students from 2016-17 batch and 1 Ph.D awardee. A total number of 18 gold medals will be given to students in the convocation this year. The names of the gold medallists will also be announced.
Out of the 18 gold medals, six have been instituted by NLUO, the remaining twelve have been donated by various dignitaries of the legal fraternity. The University gold medal for the first rank in L.L.M for batch 2016-17 and rank holders in LLB for batch 2012-17 has been instituted by NLUO. The gold medal for the first rank (highest marks) in the B.A L.L.B (Hons.) Degree has been donated by Dinabandhu Sahu Memorial Trust. The University gold medal for the second and third ranks for both B.A L.L.B (Hons) Degree as well as B.B.A L.L.B (Hons) Degree have all been instituted by NLUO. However, the gold medal for the first rank in B.B.A L.L.B (Hons) Degree, named as M.L Mitra Memorial Gold Medal, has been donated by Prof. N.L Mitra, Former Vice Chancellor, NLSIU, Bangalore. The SKS Juris Legal Group Gold Medal is donated by Kajal Mishra and Sheetal Mishra, lawyers and founders, SKS Juris Legal Group for securing the highest marks in Constitutional Law in the B.B.A L.L.B (Hons)/ B.A L.L.B (Hons.) Degree.
The student with the highest marks in Criminal Law in B.B.A L.L.B (Hons)/ B.A L.L.B (Hons.) will be awarded the Gagan Bihari Das Memorial Gold Medal, which has been donated by Ashok Parija, Senior Advocate, Orissa High Court and President of Orissa High Court Bar Association.
The student with the highest marks in Commercial Laws in B.B.A L.L.B (Hons)/ B.A L.L.B (Hons.) will be awarded the Ras Behari Ray Gold Medal donated by Bijan Ray, Senior Advocate, High Court of Orissa. The student with the highest marks in Intellectual Property Laws in B.B.A L.L.B (Hons)/ B.A L.L.B (Hons.) will be awarded theUniversity Gold Medal, instituted by NLUO. The Best All-Rounder student (Undergraduate) in the B.B.A L.L.B (Hons.)/ B.A L.L.B (Hons.) Degree will be awarded Bichitrananda Mahanty Memorial Gold Medal, donated by Bibekananda Mohanti. The State Bank of India has donated the State Bank of India Gold Medal to be awarded to the student securing highest marks in Banking Law. The student with an Outstanding Leadership shall be awarded the Madhusudan Mohanty Memorial Gold Medal, donated by Biswajit Mohanty, Chairman, BRMIIT. Another gold medal named Ananta Misra and Annapurna Misra Gold Medal to be given to the Best All-Rounder Female Student has been donated by Surya Prasad Misra, Senior Advocate & Advocate General, Odisha. The Nisamoni Devi and Bhagabat Charan Mohanty Memorial Gold Medal to be given for the Highest Score in International Law in BBA.LLB (Hons.)/BA.LLB (Hons.), donated by Prof. Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi. The Satyakamal Memorial Gold Medal is awarded for the highest score in Personal Law BBA.LLB (Hons.)/BA.LLB (Hons.), instituted by Manas Ranjan Mohapatra, Senior Advocate, Orissa High Court.The Pavani Easwara Lakshmi Memorial Gold Medal is awarded to the girl student who gets highest score in BA.LLB and BBA.LLB combined, instituted by Late P.P. Rao, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
According to the release, the students of NLUO are faring well in moot court competitions at both national and international levels. NLUO won the Indian round of 58th Edition of Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition 2017. With its stellar performance, NLUO has for the second year in a row outperformed every single Indian law school at Jessup White and Case Rounds (breaking into the Octa-Finals last year). NLUO now joins another elite league of the only three Indian universities to have ever proceeded into the semi-finals of the world rounds of Jessup. Further, a team of the university won the 34th BCI Moot Court Competition, 2017. They have won a host of citations including Best Memorial for finals.