3rd National PIL Drafting and Pleading Competition, 2024 by IDIA, Bihar: Register by Aug 22

About Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education

Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education (IDIA) was formed to empower underprivileged and marginalized communities by creating top-quality lawyers from within. Founded by legal academician, late Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer, IDIA is premised on the notion that access to premier legal education empowers marginalized communities by creating exceptional lawyers and community leaders. IDIA not only enables access to legal education it also fosters diversity at the leading law schools and enriches the very process of legal education.

In order to function and fulfill the goals of IDIA, IDIA – Bihar Chapter is organizing its 3^rd National PIL Drafting and Pleading Competition, 2024 in collaboration with Talwar Thakore & Associates (TT&A).

Themes

The participating teams are required to examine any real-life issue in relation to the given themes:

• Environmental Justice;
• Access to Justice for Marginalized Communities;
• Gender Justice;
• Indigenous Rights and Tribal Welfare;
• Right to Education.

These themes are only suggestive, the participants are allowed to select a topic other than the above-mentioned suggestive themes. In that case, the topic must relate to a contemporary issue.

Eligibility

• The competition shall be open for the students currently pursuing their Bachelor’s degree in law i.e. 3 Year LL.B. course or 5-year LL.B. course from any Recognised University / College in India.
• There is no restriction on the number of entries from any College or university.
• Cross teams would be allowed to participate.
• “Individual participation” as well as “Participation in a Team of Two” is allowed.

Submission Guidelines

• Each participating team must submit one PIL draft.
• If a participating team wishes to include any annexures to support their arguments in the draft (such as reports, commentaries, news clippings, pictures, etc.), they should compile all relevant annexures into a compendium and submit it along with the memorial.
• All the PIL drafts must be sent to the email address: i[email protected] latest by September 10, 2024, 11:59 PM, with the subject of the email as “IDIA PIL Draft, Team Code _____”
• Submissions made after the deadline will not be considered for evaluation and will result in the disqualification of the participating team, as well as forfeiture of the contribution made.
• Any submission with any name or reference of the participants will be disqualified.
• Submitting plagiarised content will lead to disqualification; participants must ensure their work is original.
• If the drafts of two or more participants or teams are found to be substantially similar, both teams will be disqualified.

Competition Format

• Out of all the submissions received, the top sixteen (16) teams with the highest PIL draft score will be selected for the oral rounds.
• The Oral Rounds will be conducted in three stages:
• The Qualifying Oral Round
• The Semi-Final Oral Round
• The Final Oral Round
• Out of the sixteen (16) teams making submissions in the Qualifying Oral Round, the top four (4) with the highest speaking score shall proceed to the Semi-Final Oral Round.
• The Semi-Final Oral Round will be a knock-out round and the two winning teams in each room shall proceed to the Final Oral Round.
• In the Qualifying Oral Round, each team will be given 15 minutes, whereas in the Semi-Final and Final Oral Round, each team will have 30 minutes to make oral submissions on the basis of the PIL draft submitted.
• In the case of a two-member team, the members shall divide the time allocated between themselves as per their own convenience. Both members are mandatorily required to make oral submissions.
• After the oral submissions, the participants will be questioned by the judge(s).
• During the Oral Rounds, teams are supposed to strictly adhere to the submission made in their PIL.
• Oral rounds will be conducted online through Google Meet.
• The courtroom attire for the participants shall be formal (black & white).
• The language of the courtroom shall be in English.
• Date of Oral Rounds: 28th & 29th September.

Formatting Guidelines

• All drafts must be provided in two formats: Microsoft Word Document (.doc/.docx) and PDF Format (.pdf), which means that each participant should submit two files – one in MS Word format and one in PDF format.
• The body of the submissions must be in the font “Times New Roman” with font size 12, having line spacing of 1.5 and justified. (The Font size for the Headings can be formatted as per the choice of the participants).
• The Footnotes shall be in Times New Roman, size 10, single line spacing, justified.
• The participants must follow a uniform citation throughout their submission.   

Content of the PIL

• The PIL is to be filed before the Supreme Court of India.
• The PIL Memorial must contain all of, and only, the following components:
• Cover Page which should contain:
  • The Unique team code is in the upper right-hand corner.
  • The name of the case;
• Table of Contents
• Table of Abbreviations
• Index of Authorities
• Statement of Jurisdiction
• Facts of the Case o Issue(s) Raised
• Summary of Arguments/Pleadings
• Arguments Advanced/Pleadings
• Prayer
• Table of annexure
• There is no restriction on the number of pages.

Penalties & Deductions

• Breach of anonymity – Disqualification from the competition.
• Late submission – 2 marks each day.
• Missing or Incorrect insertion of section or provision – 2 marks each.
• Missing or unnecessary information on the cover page – 1 mark each.
• Incorrect font style in the main body of the memorandum – 1 mark each.
• Incorrect line spacing in the main body of the memorandum – 1 mark each.
• Incorrect font size in the main body of the memorandum – 1 mark each

Prizes

• The team with the highest speaking score in the Final Oral Round will be declared the Winner and shall be eligible for an internship opportunity with the firm collaborators.
• The Runner-up team in the Final Oral Round shall be eligible for an internship opportunity with the firm collaborators.
• Certificate of Excellence for the teams proceeding for the Semi-Final and Final Oral Rounds.
• Certificate of Excellence for the ‘Best Speaker’ with the highest speaking Score in the Qualifying Oral Round.
• Certificate of Merit for all the sixteen (16) teams qualifying for the Oral Rounds.
• Certificate of Participation for all the participating teams.

Important Dates

Registration Process

Click Here To Register.

• The participating teams should complete the registration form available at this link
• Minimum Contribution
• Single Participation: Rs. 600/-
• Participation in a team of two: Rs. 900/-
• Participants are expected to follow the provided payment instructions:
• Participants should attach a screenshot of the payment within the registration form.
• Upon successful registration, each participant or team will receive a unique team code for future reference.
• The deadline for registration is August 22, 2024.

Payment Details

All the required transactions i.e., the minimum contribution/ registration fees shall be paid online in the account mentioned below:

• Account holder name – Bhola Shankar
• Account Number – 3352001500014325
• IFSC- PUNB0335200
• Bank name- Punjab National Bank
• Branch- Punjab National Bank, Udwant Nagar
• UPI Details: 7667521825@ptaxis

Contact Information

• Bhola Shankar (Team Leader- Bihar Chapter)- +91 76675 21825
• Yashila Bansal (Deputy Leader- Bihar Chapter)- +91 63504 39929
• Email- [email protected]

The brochure is here.