Alliance University’s Justice N. Santosh Hegde National Moot Court Competition was held from 24^th to 26^th February 2023. Thirty-eight (38) teams registered for the Competition from all over the country with participation of more than 100 students representing 11 States. Mr. Abhay G. Chebbi, Pro-Chancellor and Dr. Anubha Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Alliance University along with Dr. Kiran D Gardner, Dean of Alliance School of Law welcomed the participants to Alliance University on 24^th February 2023 and wished them the best for the competition. This was followed by an orientation session, researchers’ test, draw of lots and memorial exchange for Preliminary Rounds.

The event was inaugurated on 25^th February with the address from Justice N. Santosh Hegde, former Judge Supreme Court of India; former Solicitor General of India; and former Lokayukta, State of Karnataka. He told the law students that they were lucky to get training in mooting before they join the legal profession. He pointed out that law is a wonderful profession which can compete with any other profession financially as well as reputation-wise. He shared his concerns regarding failure of Constitutional institutions and delay of justice. He opined that there should be ways for quicker finality of litigation and proposed that one of the ways would be to reduce number of appellate forums. He encouraged the students to work for the cause of justice and actively contribute towards the welfare of the society.

Fierce and intellectually stimulating battles were fought during the preliminary and quarter final rounds. Alumni of Alliance School of Law travelled long distances to be judges at their Alma Mater for the preliminary rounds of the competition. Next day, began with semi-final rounds that was judged by Mr. Gaurav Sahay, Partner at Link Legal, Mr. Priyesh Sharma, Assistant Vice-President (Legal), Nucleus Office Parks, and academia was represented by Dr. Sujith Surendran, Dr. Sunil George, Dr. Shyam V Kishore and Dr. Rajan Varghese. Teams from School of Law, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur; IFIM Law College, Bengaluru; School of Excellence in Law, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai; and Rajiv Gandhi National Law University, Patiala went through the tough semi-finals and ultimately teams from School of Law SASTRA Deemed University and IFIM Law College qualified for the final round.

The final round of the competition was judged by Justice Michael John D’Cunha, former Judge Karnataka High Court; Ms. Roopa Doraswamy, Acting Legal Head at Microland and Co-founder at Flywork.io; and Dr Mukul Saxena, Professor at Alliance School of Law. All girls’ dominated teams were at their best in final. They impressed the judges with their research, legal reasoning and oratory skills and left no stones unturned in their attempt to win the competition.

During the prize distribution ceremony, Justice D’Cunha praised the efforts and commitment of the finalists and was happy to state that the participants were well prepared and legal profession will be in safe hands. School of Law, SASTRA Deemed University team constituting of Mathangi S, Jhanavi M and Madhumita S. emerged as Winners. They bagged the trophy and cash prize of Rs. 30,000/-. IFIM Law College team comprising of Yosha M, Chanchal Chaturvedi and Annu Kumari were Runners Up who along with the trophy seized the cash prize of Rs. 20,000/-.  Best Memorial and Best Researcher award too went to the team of School of Law, SASTRA Deemed University who grabbed the trophies and cash prize of Rs. 10,000 each. Madhumita S was declared as the Best Researcher whereas Best Speaker award went to Sindhanaa Andavan of School of Excellence in Law, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University. The event ended with thanksgiving by Dr. Shyam Kishore, Associate Dean, Alliance University.