Padma Shri Awardee and eminent law Professor – Dr. Upendra Baxi virtually addressed a national webinar on “Legisprudence: A Theory of Legislation in India” at Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur. The event was organised by Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in association with Centre for Post-Graduate Legal Studies (CPGLS).
Prof. (Dr.) Upendra Baxi fondly recalled his memories of Nagpur and the great hospitality offered to him earlier on his visits to Nagpur including Saoji delicacies. He underlined the contribution made in the Indian legal jurisprudence by people like Professor Raghavan, Prof. Laxmi Nath, and Judges like Justice Hidayatullah, Justice AP Sen, Justice VS Sirpurkar, former Chief Justice of India Justice SA Bobde and Justice BR Gavai, who is future Chief Justice of India. Prof. Baxi appealed to the Vice Chancellor of MNLU, Nagpur through Dr VP Tiwari, the Coordinator of the webinar to explore the legal jurisprudence evolved by these great judges and other legal luminaries from Nagpur and also from Maharashtra, which would be great service to the society.
Prof. Baxi discussed the topic of lecture in great depth wherein he began the discussion by outlining the three main prudence: jurisprudence, legisprudence and demoprudence. He stated that jurisprudence is study of living law and it is greatly misunderstood in India. He gave a detailed presentation on legisprudence wherein he elucidated the theory of legislation, nature and scope of delegated legislation, identifying purpose and intent of law, functions of legislation, law and legitimate social expectations, right to repeal, right to protection and responsible sovereignty. He discussed the democratic dignity of legislature and the practical aspects of separation of powers in India. He emphasised the need to study administrative law, statutory law and legislative drafting as one subject in a holistic manner. In conclusion, he stated that “You cannot take democracy seriously unless we take legisprudence seriously”.
The moderator of the programme Prof. Trishla Dubey introduced the Chief Speaker and recalled that Prof. Baxi is a man of principle and standing and has immensely contributed to almost all the fields of law including social action litigation which brought respite to the inmates of Agra Protective Homes whose life was very deplorable before his interventions.
The programme was attended by around 500 participants from all over the country, which included many Vice Chancellors, judges, advocates, academicians, bureaucrats, students and members from civil society. This was inaugural programme of IQAC of the University which was recently constituted by the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) Vijender Kumar to ensure that the University becomes centre of excellence and attains very high ranking in NIRF, an agency constituted to rank Indian academic institutions. The committee members include Dr VP Tiwari, Coordinator, Professors Madhukar Sharma, Trishla Dubey, Nitu Kumar and Jagdish Khobragade. The guests were welcomed and thanked by Dr VP Tiwari on behalf of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, who could not attend the function due to some sudden official work.
