THE WEST BENGAL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF JURIDICAL SCIENCES PERFORMANCE REPORT of the STUDENT JURIDICAL ASSOCIATION for AY 2013-14 & AY 2014-15 SJA 2013-14 SJA 2013-14 Akshat Gupta (President) Akshat Gupta (President) Adithya Iyer (Vice-President) Adithya Iyer (Vice-President) Prashanth Mukundan (Treasurer) Saurabh Mishra (Treasurer) Neeti Bhatt (Treasurer) Pratik R Das (Treasurer) Bharath A Sreenivasan (Joint Secretary) Varun Ramdas (Joint Secretary) Archit Krishna (Joint Secretary) Satyajit Mallick (Joint Secretary) SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 ACKNOWLEDGMENT In order to bring qualitative improvement in the overall academic profile of NUJS, we assessed the current practices vis-à-vis the best global practices and also interacted with our current and past students. Based on this feedback and our own assessment, we developed a long term strategy to work on issues concerning academic excellence, top class general and sports infrastructure, alumni relations, improving the NUJS brand, etc. We resolved to work simultaneously on all fronts to bring the desired qualitative change in the delivery as well as perception of NUJS. We believe that this is only the beginning of change in NUJS and hope that the successive student bodies will share our vision and continue working towards making NUJS the best. We would like to thank the student body for supporting and encouraging us throughout. All that has been accomplished in the previous two years is a fruit of the contributions of every single student and is a collective achievement. We would also like to thank our Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. P Ishwara Bhat, acting Registrar Dr. R. Parameswaran, SJA Faculty Advisor Prof. Dr. Arup Poddar, and all other faculty members for their continued guidance and support. Akshat Gupta Adithya Iyer (President) (Vice-President) 2 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACADEMICS ..................................................................................................................................................................5 Faculty: Recruitment & Feedback ............................................................................................................................5 1. Recruitment of Faculty ...................................................................................................................................5 2. Demo Classes for student feedback on recruitment of faculty ................................................................5 3. Online Student Feedback on Performance of Faculty ..............................................................................5 Foreign Exchange .......................................................................................................................................................6 4. Policy for Foreign Exchange Programmes .................................................................................................6 5. Formation of Student Exchange Cell...........................................................................................................6 Credit Courses .............................................................................................................................................................6 6. Organization of Credit Courses ....................................................................................................................6 7. Relaxation in cap on the maximum number of credit courses a student could sign up for in an academic year ..........................................................................................................................................................6 8. Removal of Rs. 1,000 security deposit to sign up for credit courses.......................................................6 9. Establishment of the Credit Course Cell .....................................................................................................6 Compulsory and Elective Courses ............................................................................................................................7 10. Non-mandatory courses being taught as Compulsory courses ............................................................7 11. Semester wise Distribution of Courses ....................................................................................................7 12. Removal of First cum First Serve Rule for choice of elective courses ...............................................7 13. Circulation of Course Outlines .................................................................................................................7 14. Late Submission of Projects ......................................................................................................................8 Other Academics Related Initiatives ........................................................................................................................8 15. Formation of Academic Reforms Committee ........................................................................................8 16. NUJS Weekend Lecture Series .................................................................................................................9 17. Free Bare Acts .............................................................................................................................................9 18. Amendments to Academic and Examination Rules ..............................................................................9 19. Online Repository of all Rules and Regulations .................................................................................. 10 20. Timely Publication of Results ................................................................................................................ 10 21. Institutional Email Addresses ................................................................................................................ 10 INFRASTRUCTURE .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Hostel Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................... 10 22. Construction of Additional Rooms on Campus for Girls ................................................................. 10 23. Air conditioners in Girls‟ Dormitories ................................................................................................. 10 24. Grant of Additional Land ....................................................................................................................... 10 25. Toilet Infrastructure Overhaul ............................................................................................................... 11 26. Water Coolers on all floors..................................................................................................................... 11 27. New dustbins on all floors...................................................................................................................... 11 Classroom Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................................ 12 3 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 28. Wall Repair and Painting......................................................................................................................... 12 29. Installation of Additional Power-points ............................................................................................... 12 30. Installation of New Curtains .................................................................................................................. 12 31. Installation of Projectors; (work in progress) ...................................................................................... 12 32. Repair of Benches and Tables (work in progress) .............................................................................. 12 Sports Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................................ 12 33. Overhaul of Gymnasium ........................................................................................................................ 12 34. Quad leveling ............................................................................................................................................ 13 35. Pool and Foosball Tables........................................................................................................................ 13 36. SAI Tie-up (Credit to Sports Committee) ............................................................................................ 13 Other Infrastructure related Initiatives ................................................................................................................. 13 37. Change of Canteen Vendor .................................................................................................................... 13 38. 100% Power Back-Up ............................................................................................................................. 14 39. Mess Infrastructure .................................................................................................................................. 14 40. Construction of Garbage Dump ........................................................................................................... 14 41. Repair of Air Conditioners and Sound System in the Auditorium................................................... 14 42. Cesspool .................................................................................................................................................... 14 LIBRARY ...................................................................................................................................................................... 15 43. Reduction in Photocopy and Printing Costs ....................................................................................... 15 44. Extension of Library Timings on Weekends till 10 PM..................................................................... 15 45. Multiple Copies of Newspapers............................................................................................................. 15 46. Journal Room ........................................................................................................................................... 15 ALUMNI ....................................................................................................................................................................... 15 47. Alumni Outreach ..................................................................................................................................... 15 48. Alumni Database...................................................................................................................................... 15 MEDICAL FACILITIES............................................................................................................................................ 16 49. Tie-Up with Columbia Asia .................................................................................................................... 16 50. University Doctor .................................................................................................................................... 16 51. University Psychiatrist ............................................................................................................................. 16 52. Medical Kits in Hostels ........................................................................................................................... 16 FUNCTIONING OF THE SJA ............................................................................................................................... 16 53. Increase of Annual Budget of the Student Body ................................................................................ 16 54. Method of Allocating SJA Funds .......................................................................................................... 16 55. Procedure of Withdrawal of Funds ....................................................................................................... 17 56. Amendment of SJA Constitution .......................................................................................................... 17 57. SJA Facebook Page.................................................................................................................................. 17 TRANSPARENCY MEASURES ............................................................................................................................. 18 58. Increased Transparency .......................................................................................................................... 18 CULTURAL FEST ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 59. OUTLAWED .......................................................................................................................................... 18 4 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 ACADEMICS FACULTY: RECRUITMENT & FEEDBACK 1. Recruitment of Faculty; & 2. Demo Classes for student feedback on recruitment of faculty NUJS has consistently been acknowledged for having the best faculty amongst all the law schools in the country. However, in 2012 and 2013, many eminent faculty members left and the University failed to commensurately fill up the vacant positions. In July 2013, the very first month of assuming office as SJA office-bearers, we sought to rectify this and made a representation before the Academic Council (the highest decision making body relating to academic affairs in the University). This was the first time the student body was allowed to make such a representation. We highlighted our concerns not only with regard to the falling strength of the faculty but also the deteriorating quality of faculty members being recruited, especially in light of some of the recent recruitments which our students‟ felt were not worthy of the standard of NUJS. We also vehemently pleaded before the Academic Council to allow some kind of student representation in the process of faculty recruitment. The members of the Academic Council were in agreement on both the issues and directed the immediate recruitment of as many faculty members as was the maximum permissible strength. Further, pursuant to our request of student representation in the process, they directed that demo classes be organized and 10% weightage be given to the student feedback in the overall assessment of the candidates. This entire process culminated in the recruitment of as many as 4 new faculty members, all of whom had received excellent student feedback. 3. Online Student Feedback on Performance of Faculty The student feedback mechanism had been rendered redundant primarily because the students viewed this as an exercise which was carried out merely as a formality, the feedback was not taken seriously by the faculty and the University failed to take any action based on the feedback. We had this replaced with a system wherein the feedback form could be filled online by a student, from anywhere and under no pressure to finish 5 forms in less than an hour‟s time. Anonymity was given utmost priority and safeguards were instituted to ensure that a student‟s name could not be revealed to a faculty under any circumstances. Further, to make this feedback valuable, it was decided that collated result of the feedback would be published to faculty as well as students. Furthermore, the University, on its part, agreed to take necessary action if any faculty got 3 successive bad reviews. 5 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 FOREIGN EXCHANGE 4. Policy for Foreign Exchange Programmes; & 5. Formation of Student Exchange Cell One area where our University was especially lacking was in collaboration with foreign universities to facilitate student as well as faculty exchange. The limited collaborations that the University did have only saw the foreign students coming into our University. This was primarily due to the absence of an internal policy allowing for students to study a semester abroad and related provisions dealing with exchange of credits, exemptions from projects, payment of fees, etc. We sought to remedy this by providing for a comprehensive framework in the academic rules allowing for our students to study a semester abroad at our partner universities. Further, we setup an independent Student Exchange Cell, outside the ambit of the SJA. The mandate of this Cell was primarily to explore possibilities of new tie-ups on behalf of the University and facilitate the affairs of the incoming as well outgoing students. We are pleased with the work that the Cell has done in such a short span of time. CREDIT COURSES 6. Organization of Credit Courses; & 7. Relaxation in cap on the maximum number of credit courses a student could sign up for in an academic year; & 8. Removal of Rs. 1,000 security deposit to sign up for credit courses; & 9. Establishment of the Credit Course Cell With the objective of supplementing regular classroom teaching with courses by experts to provide some practical knowledge to our students, we pushed for the organization of credit courses. We set our internal target at 10 courses per semester and strived to ensure that courses organized would cater to the diverse interests of our students. To this end, we solicited suggestions from the student body on what courses they would like to be organized and/or a specific guest faculty they would like to learn from. The academic rules permitted a student to sign up for only 3 credit courses in an academic year. Thus, we strived to ensure that all the courses were announced well in advance so that the students‟ could make an informed choice. There was soon a demand to relax the cap on the maximum number of credit courses a student could sign up for in an academic year. We petitioned the Undergraduate Council and got the limit increased to 3 credit courses in one semester instead of the earlier limit of 3 courses in one year. 6 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 Further, initially there was a requirement to deposit a sum of Rs. 1,000 as security to ensure that students took the credit courses seriously. We successfully petitioned for doing away with this requirement and institution of other non-monetary safeguards to ensure seriousness of students towards these courses. Furthermore, we petitioned the Undergraduate Council and the Vice Chancellor for setting up of a Credit Course Cell comprising of faculty as well as students. The primary mandate of this Cell would be to ensure that a minimum of 5 quality credit courses are conducted every semester. This proposal has been accepted and it was agreed that a new provision would be inserted in the academic rules to provide for the formation of this Cell. The proposal only awaits a formal approval of the Academic Council as it requires an amendment to the academic rules and is likely to come into force from AY 2015-16. COMPULSORY AND ELECTIVE COURSES 10. Non-mandatory courses being taught as Compulsory courses; & 11. Semester wise Distribution of Courses Students had expressed their concern regarding certain seemingly non-essential courses being forced upon students as compulsory courses. This resulted in the students‟ pursuing courses they were either not interested in or did not align with their career choices. Further, we were shocked to learn that same compulsory courses were being offered to different batches in different years of study. There was no consistent curriculum being followed. For instance, the Batch of 2015 was taught ADR in their 3rd year of study whereas their immediate senior batch, the Batch of 2014 was taught the same course in their 5th year of study. We took the matter before the Academic Council where we requested them to reformulate the list of compulsory courses such that only those courses which were deemed mandatory by the Bar Council of India could be taught as compulsory courses. Once this request was duly accepted by the Academic Council, we pleaded for its implementation with immediate effect. Consequently, Agricultural Law and Banking Law were changed from compulsory to elective courses in the middle of the semester. The Academic Council also passed a directive that the list of semester wise distribution of courses be revised, taking into account inputs from the students, be notified in the first year of study and then be strictly followed throughout the entire duration of the course. 12. Removal of First cum First Serve Rule for choice of elective courses; & 13. Circulation of Course Outlines If reduction in the number of elective courses being offered and caps on maximum number of students that could enroll for each course weren‟t adversely affecting students‟ interests enough, the arbitrary rule of offering elective courses on the basis of first cum first serve rule certainly did the job. 7 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 We worked towards replacing this with a fairer and just system for award of elective courses. Under the new system, 50% seats would be allocated on the basis of CGPA and remaining 50% on first cum first serve basis. Further, to reduce the arbitrary effect of the first cum first serve rule, we sought the introduction of a prior notification window when the list of available courses was to be notified to the students along with course outlines. This notification would also indicate a future date when the application of the first cum first serve rule would begin. This system has been incorporated in the academic rules. We are pleased that the system has been working well for the previous one and a half years and has gone a long way in alleviating students‟ concern regarding fairness in award of elective courses. 14. Late Submission of Projects Students suffered at the hands of faculty members who had discretion to allow or disallow late submission of project, even when the student was willing to incur a penalty in terms of marks deduction. We worked towards the introduction of a new provision in the academic rules taking this discretion away from faculty members and providing for a transparent mechanism for late submission of projects. The rule introduced allowed students to submit projects late, up to a maximum of 4 days from the last date of submission. To ensure that this provision is not abused and is used only in genuine cases, we provided a safeguard for a deduction of 1 mark per day for such late submission. OTHER ACADEMICS RELATED INITIATIVES 15. Formation of Academic Reforms Committee1 Although the old SJA constitution made a mention of this committee, it was never actually formed. In AY 2013-14, we constituted this committee with the primary mandate of reviewing and reforming the academic rules. We amended the provision relating to this committee in the SJA Constitution to provide for its composition and functions. The Committee is now a statutory body and functions as a sub-committee under the SJA. We are pleased that this committee has done tremendous work since its formation and has assisted the SJA immensely in carrying out the numerous academic reforms listed above. 1 Academic Reforms Committee comprised of the following students: for AY 2013-14: Ujwala Uppuluri (5th Year) (Coordinator); Anviti Chaturvedi (5th Year); Jenisha Parikh (5th Year); Midhun th Year); for AY 2013-14: Ujwala Uppuluri Year) Ashna (Coordinator); Anviti Chaturvedi (5thMohanty Year); Jenisha Parikh (5th Year); Midhun Zacharia (5th Year); Smaran Shetty (5th Year); Ashesh (4 Bedavyasa (4th Year); Deepthi Bavirisetty (3rd Zacharia (5th Year); Smaran Shetty (5th Year); Ashna Ashesh (4th Year); Bedavyasa Mohanty (4th Year); Deepthi Bavirisetty (3rd Year); Nupur Pandit (3rd Year); Vasujith Ram (3rd Year); Maithili Pai (2nd Year); Pranaav Gupta (1st Year); and Ragul Murali (1st Year). for AY 2014-15: Ashna Ashesh (5th Year) (Coordinator); Bedavyasa Mohanty (5th Year); Vikram Lakshman (4th Year); Nupur Pandit (4th Year); Pratik Ranjan Das (3rd Year); Aishwarya Mudgil (3rd Year); Ayushi Singhal (2nd Year); Ragul Murali (2nd Year). 8 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 16. NUJS Weekend Lecture Series An initiative to supplement classroom teaching, provide insightful thoughts on emerging issues and foster learning key academic concepts from experts in the field using videoconferencing, the WLS has had a successful start with speakers such as Ms. Zia Mody and Prof. N R Madhava Menon gracing the forum. We are hopeful that this initiative will be carried forward by the successive student bodies and the full potential of the initiative will be realized by inviting eminent persons on a regular basis. 17. Free Bare Acts A lot of students‟ complained about having to incur a substantial expenditure on procuring essential bare acts for examinations. The University Authorities acceded to our request and it was agreed that if not in full at least all the relevant provisions of essential bare acts will be provided in the reading material itself thereby saving precious bucks for our students. 18. Amendments to Academic and Examination Rules The Academic and Examination Rules, 2012 were formulated to govern all aspects of the undergraduate academic programme at the University. Soon it was realized that the rules thus formulated were vague leaving a lot of discretion in the hands of the university authorities. This led to arbitrary or even, contradictory decisions, in most cases. Thus, a need was felt to review and reform these rules. Several petitions were put forth before the appropriate regulatory bodies such as the Undergraduate Council as well as the Academic Council. After multiple rounds of discussions, we secured the following key changes to these Rules: a) For purposes of attendance relaxation, medical reasons now include mental disorders or psychological conditions. b) A provision has been introduced to provide for an appeal procedure in the event of any discrepancy in allotment of elective courses. c) Conditions imposed on evaluation components have been relaxed. Faculty will now have more freedom in choice of evaluation components for compulsory as well as elective courses. d) Take home examinations for elective courses have been made permissible. e) Rules relating to Promotion have been clarified. f) Repeat Exams: (a) Now, even students participating in National Moots shall be eligible to write repeat exams. (b) Medical illness requirement relaxed. Now, a student who is hospitalized or is incapacitated due to a contagious disease shall also be eligible for repeat exams. g) A new provision has been inserted to allow for consultation of projects as well along with end semester answer scripts. 9 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 h) A new provision has been inserted for special repeat examination in case an elective course is not offered in the subsequent academic year. 19. Online Repository of all Rules and Regulations Owing to ambiguity and confusion regarding many rules and regulations applicable to different batches, a consolidated database was made available to students so that there would be clarity regarding the same. 20. Timely Publication of Results As a consequence of constant pressure from the student body, the University has started strictly implementing the rule providing for publication of results within 6 weeks of the last date of end-semester examinations. Some faculty members still default on the deadline but most results are published as per schedule. In an attempt to make the faculty more accountable and to ensure timely publication of results, after much persuasion, the Undergraduate Council finally approved an amendment to the academic rules in March 2015. Pursuant to this, faculty who fail to submit their result within the stipulated period of 6 weeks shall mandatorily have to „show cause‟ for delay in writing to the Vice Chancellor. This provision is yet to be approved by the Academic Council but it is a mere procedural formality and the provision should come into effect from AY 2015-16. 21. Institutional Email Addresses After much delay, all students have now been given @nujs.edu ids and all official communication shall be directed to these addresses. They are also the exclusive medium for filling up official responses like course preferences and faculty review forms. INFRASTRUCTURE HOSTEL INFRASTRUCTURE 22. Construction of Additional Rooms on Campus for Girls; & 23. Air conditioners in Girls’ Dormitories; & 24. Grant of Additional Land The most pressing concern and one of our biggest infrastructural issues over the last few years was the acute lack of space for girl students in the hostels. Despite paying the same hostel fees as boys, girls were forced to stay in makeshift dormitories that were originally conceived as dining areas and recreational rooms. After 10 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 many years of apathy and inaction, we finally managed to persuade the University Authorities to construct an additional floor on top of the Wardens‟ flats. 4 new rooms were created on this additional floor with a capacity to house as many as 32 students. The additional construction was scheduled to take at least 6-8 months for completion and respite had to be provided to the girls‟ living in the sweltering heat of Kolkata in those crowded dormitories. We sought the installation of air conditioners in the dormitories to provide some immediate relief to the girls‟ with the future possibility of use of these dormitories as recreation rooms pre-equipped with air conditioners. The additional construction was only a short term solution and while working on this, we kept pursuing a more lasting and permanent solution to this problem of space crunch. This solution came in the form of grant of additional land. After representations before the Executive Council, different ministries and officials of the government, we finally managed to secure 0.75 acres of land adjoining our campus. This land will be used inter alia, to build hostel blocks, some sports facilities and a guest house. 25. Toilet Infrastructure Overhaul A major problem in the hostels was the despicable (both functionally as well as aesthetically) state of our toilet blocks. From dysfunctional showers to toilets that did not flush, there were countless issues. It would not be unfair to say that our toilet blocks were as bad as the public utilities in the country. We are very happy that this condition has been improved drastically with a total overhaul of our hostel toilet blocks. After numerous representations, we persuaded the University Authorities to undertake a complete overhaul of the toilet blocks. A significant investment was made and almost all old equipment was purchased and replaced with new branded equipment including shower heads, cisterns, fittings, taps, mirrors, etc. Further, one additional geyser was installed on each floor pursuant to our representation. 26. Water Coolers on all floors After the installation of the RO Plant, the supply of clean drinking water was no longer an issue. Now, the problem was to ensure that this clean drinking water was readily available to all the students. There were small water coolers installed on each floor but most of them did not work and the ones that did had stopped cooling the water. Consequently, students had to queue up in the mess to fill up their water bottles. This issue was resolved by the installation of branded industrial size water coolers with an inbuilt cooling function on each floor. 27. New dustbins on all floors Our hostels did not even have proper dustbins as waste used to regularly spill out of the containers. We are pleased that new dustbins with greater capacity have been installed. Further, use of industrial size polybags to line the dustbins and hold the garbage has resulted in a significant improvement of the working 11 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 conditions of the cleaning staff. This is not a landmark change but something we believe is important in keeping our campus clean and hygienic. CLASSROOM INFRASTRUCTURE 28. Wall Repair and Painting Our classrooms walls were in very bad shape, with the paint faded and bits of the walls falling off. All classrooms have been repainted after laying strong foundation so that this time, the walls remain in good condition for at least a few years. 29. Installation of Additional Power-points Although most students use laptops in class to take notes (or stay awake generally) it was seen that there were hardly any functional power points. We now have as many as 32 power points installed in the classrooms in comparison to just 8 earlier so that it is more convenient to access devices. 30. Installation of New Curtains New curtains have also been installed in the classrooms as the old ones were both worn out and extremely dirty. 31. Installation of Projectors; (work in progress) & 32. Repair of Benches and Tables (work in progress) This has been approved by the University but has not been implemented yet. We hope that the successive SJA will be able to follow up on this and see to it that it is implemented at the earliest. SPORTS INFRASTRUCTURE 33. Overhaul of Gymnasium The students making use of the gym often complained about the dilapidated condition of the gym room as well as the inadequacy of the gym equipment. a) We were determined to rectify this and secured the following changes: To increase the size of the gym, the doctor‟s room adjacent to the gym was taken over and made a part of the gym premises. 12 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 b) Air conditioners were installed in the gym. c) New high quality branded equipment worth almost Rs. 14 lacs was purchased. The new equipment included a smith machine, a preacher curl bench, 2 treadmills, 2 bicycles, a home gym, a bicep and a tricep machine, etc. of „Proline‟ brand. d) An annual maintenance contract was signed with the vendor of the new equipment to ensure proper maintenance and upkeep of the equipment. 34. Quad leveling A long-pending grievance of all the sports enthusiasts on campus was that our only play ground was in horrible shape with many people getting injured due to the uneven surface, lack of grass cover and the presence of stones and pebbles. We made a series of representations to the University Authorities, including one to the Executive Council. After many years of inaction, finally this issue was resolved by way of digging up the entire ground and relaying it afresh. A considerable amount of earth was added in the process to increase the level of the surface above the drainage. We believe that the problem has been resolved to a considerable extent. 35. Pool and Foosball Tables To provide some avenues for indoor sports/recreation, we decided to purchase a pool and foosball table from the SJA funds. The order was placed at the end of AY 2014-15 and students shall be able to make use of these in the new academic year. We hope the general body enjoys these and if required, the successive student bodies may consider purchasing additional tables. 36. SAI Tie-up (Credit to Sports Committee) Although our prospectus always claimed that we could avail of this facility, it is only this year that it finally became functional. The Sports Committee played a proactive role in making this happen and we are happy to help follow up and support their petitions from our side as well. Additionally, the University has also agreed to bear the cost of fees of students availing this facility. OTHER INFRASTRUCTURE RELATED INITIATIVES 37. Change of Canteen Vendor There were several complaints with regard to the quality and variety of food and the general behavior of the staff at the canteen which resulted in a signature campaign (with over 450 signatures) to change the operator. After almost one full year of relentless lobbying and deliberations with the University Authorities, we finally secured a change of vendors. The vendor selected was to be reputed, hygienic, and able to serve a wide variety of food at affordable prices. The vendor selected was a reputed caterer “Little Sisters” with 13 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 immense experience catering for IRCTC. We have received positive reports and no complaints thus far about this canteen and are pleased that the new vendor has in fact been able to provide us quality food at affordable prices. 38. 100% Power Back-Up The installation of a generator was another curios absence that we found at NUJS, considering the regular power cuts. Finally, a generator set was installed on campus and this has proved quite beneficial. 39. Mess Infrastructure The mess committee had been requisitioning purchase of new equipment including an industrial size refrigerator, a new industrial size stove and other equipment for many years now. After pursuing this matter closely, we are delighted that all the equipment that was required to improve the working of the mess has been procured finally (as late as in the ongoing summer vacations) and this issue has been put to rest. 40. Construction of Garbage Dump To help resolve the problem of garbage accumulating behind the hostels and improving the overall hygiene level on campus, an enclosure has been constructed to house the waste until it is collected by the municipal corporation. We add here however that this has not solved the problem completely, mainly on account of the continued indiscriminate dumping of garbage outside the hostels. 41. Repair of Air Conditioners and Sound System in the Auditorium Only 2 out of the 8 air conditioners in the auditorium were working until last year and this has now been rectified as all the units have been repaired. Moreover, the sound system was not functioning properly and this also been repaired last semester. 42. Cesspool The Cesspool had been built as a water reservoir to be used in cases of emergency and fires. The poor maintenance and stagnant water in the pool turned it into a breeding ground for mosquitoes. A lot of our students contracted malaria and other diseases due to this. This had also been a long standing issue and previous student bodies had also tried hard to find a constructive solution to this problem. After several delays and failed attempts, we finally found a feasible and lasting solution in the form of installation of a water filtration system and tiling of the inner surface with water resistant tiles. Due to the substantial cost involved, it took us longer to persuade the University Authorities to undertake this work. However, the tender for this finally went up in March 2015 and we are confident that the renovation of the cesspool will be completed shortly. 14 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 LIBRARY 43. Reduction in Photocopy and Printing Costs It was incredibly surprising that we were being charged extravagant amounts of money for printing and photocopying for so many years. We conducted our own survey to assess the actual costs involved and found the result to be shocking compared to the prices we were being charged. Based on this, we were able to negotiate with the vendors and persuade them to reduce the prices. The rate for photocopying has gone down from Re 1 to 50 paise and printing from Rs 2.5 to Re 1, a reduction of 50% and more. 44. Extension of Library Timings on Weekends till 10 PM The library used to shut at 5pm on weekends. Due to popular demand, this timing has now been extended to 10 pm with a possibility of further extension up to midnight if there is enough usage (which has not been the case over the last year). 45. Multiple Copies of Newspapers Many students had been complaining about non-availability of newspapers due to only one copy being available. Now, multiple copies are available for leading newspapers like The Hindu, Indian Express, The Economic Times, etc 46. Journal Room The creation of the new Journal Room outside the library premises caused a lot of discomfort to the students in that they had to get the room opened each time they wanted to use it. Now, the room is kept open daily from 2 PM to 10 PM. ALUMNI 47. Alumni Outreach; & 48. Alumni Database We strongly believe that alumni must play a significant role in helping our University grow and in pursuit of this end we held the first alumni meet in 2014. Pursuant to this gathering, the alumni cell was set up to 15 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 gather information of our alumni and help co-ordinate future events. We hope that the successive student bodies will continue building on this and organize alumni meets at regular intervals. MEDICAL FACILITIES 49. Tie-Up with Columbia Asia As the old collaboration with AMRI was proving to be almost useless, a new agreement was reached with Columbia Asia, the highlights of which are a ten percent discount and option of zero deposit while admitting a student. 50. University Doctor The University Doctor now is now present in the University five times a week instead of three to attend to our students. 51. University Psychiatrist On students‟ demand, we requested the University Authorities to have a psychiatrist on campus to attend to our students. Pursuant to this request, a psychiatrist was contacted and now she visits the University once a week for 2 hours to talk to our students. 52. Medical Kits in Hostels Basic medical kits have been placed in both hostels to treat any emergency injuries. FUNCTIONING OF THE SJA 53. Increase of Annual Budget of the Student Body Soon after assuming office, we felt that the 12 lakhs budget for a growing group of committees was inadequate and having last been revised back in 2008, required reconsideration. We petitioned the Executive Council and it was decided to increase our annual budget by 25% to Rs. 15 lakhs. This has enabled the growing demands of the committees‟ to be met and allow them to grow and increase the number of events/activities they organize. 16 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 54. Method of Allocating SJA Funds It was a very unpleasant experience to sit through six hour meetings to decide which committee got how much money from the SJA budget. Even after these long meetings, we realized that it was more about the office bearers‟ bargaining power and reputation that decided how much money a committee was sanctioned. To put an end to this practice, the constitution was amended and empowered the SJA to decide the allocation for each committee based on past performance and average student participation in their events. We are happy to inform that this procedure was first implemented this year and a majority of committees were happy with this change and the sum allocated to them. 55. Procedure of Withdrawal of Funds The procedure for withdrawal of funds allocated to a committee has been simplified and committees no longer need to take money from the SJA. They can now directly approach the University for money allotted to them and have to submit bills and remaining funds to the accounts department directly. This was done with the objective of making the process simpler and faster by eliminating the SJA Treasurer from this process. 56. Amendment of SJA Constitution Despite being a significant document, the SJA constitution was quite hard to follow and also had some infirmities. We formulated an independent committee2 tasked to review and suggest changes to the constitution. We would like to thank the Committee for the making such valuable changes to the Constitution and completing this mammoth task in a timely manner. The major changes are indicated as under: a) setting up of a Vigilance Commission to keep a check on the functioning of the SJA as well as all the Committees/Societies (Part III); b) procedure for induction of new committees to the SJA as well as removal of societies from the SJA has been laid down (Article 4(h) and 4(i)); c) provision for the constitution of an Academic Reforms Committee (Article 5); d) no student shall be allowed to be a part of more than 2 SJA societies; e) the President and Vice-President shall, upon their election, cease to be a member of any SJA society; f) rules pertaining to the working of the Committees/Societies (Article 4); g) rules pertaining to the functioning of the EC (Article 12). 57. SJA Facebook Page 2 The Committee comprised the following students: Jay Sayta (5th Year) [Coordinator]; Sohini Chatterjee (4th Year); Shyam Gopal (4th Year); Archit Krishna (3rd Year); Arindrajit Basu (3rd Year); Savithran Ramesh (3rd Year); Arjun Agarwal (2nd Year); Mrinalini Ravindranath (2nd Year). 17 SJA Performance Report 2013-2015 We strongly believe that there must be a free flow of ideas and constructive criticism of policies as well as increased accountability. We also believe that these ideals should not only be expected from our University authorities but also the student body as a whole. Therefore, we created the facebook page and we urge everyone to use this page to raise and debate issues that are important to us. Although we have tried to cover as many things as possible, we are certain that we have missed out on many issues and we require your help in addressing them. TRANSPARENCY MEASURES 58. Increased Transparency We sincerely believe that over and above all the aforementioned changes, the biggest and most tangible contribution that the last two years have had at NUJS is that there is increased transparency and accountability, across perfect. Although a lot is left to be done in this regard, we would like to congratulate the entire general body for helping us get more bargaining power with the administration which has in turn resulted in more attention being paid to our concerns. We hope that this trend continues and futures SJAs achieve excellent results for our University and NUJS continues to grow. CULTURAL FEST 59. OUTLAWED Our cultural fest has grown leaps and bounds in the previous 2 years. It has now undisputedly become the biggest cultural fest in the law school circuit. The growth of OUTLAWED can be appreciated only by drawing a comparison between the previous and current editions. Prior to our assuming office, in AY 2012-13, OUTLAWED had a budget of approx Rs 7 lacs, witnessed participation from roughly 50 outstation participants and 100 local participants, offered prize money of Rs. 75000, and had Indus Creed as its lone „starnite‟. After assuming office, in AY 2013-14 & AY 2014-15, OUTLAWED had a budget of approx Rs 18-21 lacs, witnessed participation from roughly 150-300 outstation participants and 300-500 local participants, offered prize money of Rs. 1.75 lacs – Rs. 2.75 lacs, and had Indian Ocean, AGNEE, Pentagram, Dualist Inquiry and Midival Punditz as starnites. We are immensely grateful to our spirited team of volunteers and especially our coordinators, Antara Priya, D. Divyanshu and Prashanth Mukundan for being excellent leaders. 18