6th Edition of the Surana & Surana and UILS National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition hosted by UILS at PU

Chandigarh, September 04, 2023: The 6th edition of the Surana & Surana and UILS National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition was recently hosted by the University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) at Panjab University, Chandigarh. The event received unwavering support from Mr. Preetam Surana and was held under the guidance of Prof. (Dr.) Sarabjit Kaur, the Director of UILS, PU, along with Prof. (Dr.) Rajinder Kaur, Professor of Law and Prof. (Dr.) Pushpinder Kaur, Professor (Law).

The competition took place over several days, with Preliminary Rounds 1 & 2 occurring on September 1, 2023, followed by the Quarter Finals and Semi Finals on September 2. The event concluded with the final rounds held on September 3, 2023, where distinguished judges, including HMJ Alka Sarin from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Reeta Kohli, Senior Advocate and NCLT Member, PS Jaswal, Vice-Chancellor of SRM-Sonipat, Vaibhav Sharma, Advocate at the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Ishpuneet, Advocate at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, evaluated the participants.

The central theme of the moot court competition revolved around a contentious issue regarding the construction of a dam and the management of transboundary water resources. A total prize money pool of Rs. 30,000 was awarded to the participants, who came from various parts of India, representing institutions such as NUALS, Kochi, HPNLU, Army Institute of Law, Mohali, NMIMS, Indore, SLS, Pune, and New Law College, Pune, among others.

The Winners of the competition were Ishika, Atharve Mohan Tiwari, and Arundhathi from New Law College, BVU, Pune, while the Runners Up were Swati Nair, Fathima Rena Abdulla, and Amrithnath R Menon from NUALS, Kochi. Atharve Mohan Tiwari from New Law College, Pune, received the Best Student Advocate award, and the Best Memorial award went to Prakriti V Kotru, Nidhi Adwani, and Raghvi Garg from Asian Law College. The Spirit of Surana award was won by Varsha Jayaran, Soumya Singh, and Ruhi Amin Saith from SLS, Pune.

The competition's success was attributed to the diligent efforts of the Organising Committee, led by Ratik Chatrath Kapur (MCS Coordinator), Anupam Kakkar (Convenor), and Agastya Shukla (Co-Convenor), along with the invaluable contributions of Event Coordinators Naaz Bagga, Arjun Sagar, and Hukam Raj, as well as the support of MCS Executive members and volunteers.