Faculty

Dr. Saurabh Bhattacharjee

Associate Professor of Law & Dean - Academics

and

LLM Chair

Faculty In Charge, HAL Defence Public Sector Undertaking Chair in Business Laws

Co-Director, Centre for Labour Studies

Phone Extension: 133 | Direct Number: 080-23010630

Teaching

Academic Programmes

5-Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)

Courses

Education

  • BA-BL (Hons), NALSAR, Hyderabad – 2005
  • LLM, University of Michigan Law School – 2009
  • Ph.D., NUJS, Kolkata – 2019

Profile

Saurabh Bhattacharjee’s academic interest includes Labour Law, Sports Law, Law and Impoverishment, Nuclear Law and Refugee Law. Saurabh’s doctoral thesis examined the theme of juridification of sports and the rise of lex sportiva. An alumnus of NALSAR Hyderabad, Saurabh was awarded several gold medals for academic excellence in the BA-BL (Hons) Programme. At the University of Michigan Law School, he was awarded the Grotius Fellowship for pursuing the LLM Degree as also certificates of honor in multiple subjects for outstanding academic performance.

He worked at NUJS Kolkata between December 2009 and June 2021 where he taught courses on Legal Methods, Labour Law, Law and Impoverishment, Refugee Law, and Socio-Economic Rights at NUJS. He has also taught at the National Law University (NLU) Jodhpur, Administrative Training Institute, Government of West Bengal, West Bengal Judicial Academy and the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management [IISWBM], Kolkata.

Apart from teaching, Saurabh has written and published for national and international journals and done research work for organisations like UNCTAD and IGNOU. He has authored reports submitted to Parliamentary Committees and Ministries of Union Government as part of pre-legislative consultation. Saurabh has also been a Member of the Committee to Review Vagrancy Laws, constituted by the Government of West Bengal. He also established the Centre for Labour Laws and Livelihood at NUJS.

Saurabh had also worked with the Delhi-based civil society group, The Other Media on campaigns on issues of conflict and human rights, corporate accountability, refugee rights between 2005 and 2007 before joining academia.

Publications

Book Chapters

· Nuclear Energy and Liability: An Environmental Perspective, in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON LAW, ENVIRONMENT AND POVERTY (Phillippe Cullet and Sujith Koonan eds), Edward Elgar 2019
· Broadcasting of Sports in India in SPORTS LAW IN INDIA: POLICY, REGULATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION (Lovely Dasgupta and Shameek Sen eds), Sage 2018
· From a Curse to a Blessing: The Political Economy of Equitable Control Over Natural Resources, a co-authored chapter in NATURAL RESOURCES LAW: CONCEPTS, IMPLEMENTATION AND PRACTICE (P. Ishwara Bhat ed.), Eastern Book Co. 2015

Journal Articles

· Universalisation of Minimum Wages as a Pipedream: Many Discontents of the Code on Wages 2019, Socio-Legal Review (Forthcoming – accepted for publication)
· COVID-19 and Labour Law: India, Italian Labour Law E-Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1S (2020): Special Issue: Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review, April 2020
· From Francis Coralie Mullin to Swaraj Abhiyan: Adding Multidimensionality to the Conditional Social Right to Food, Christ University Law Journal, Vol. 6, No 1, January 2017.
· Adapting Social Security to 21st Century Indian Economy: A Case for Universalisation, NUJS Journal of Regulatory Studies, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2016.
· Transcending the Frontiers: The Role of Comparative Legal Research in Sports Law, International Journal of Legal Studies and Research, Vol. 5, Issue 1, 2016.
· Private and Yet Public: The Schizophrenia of Modern Sports and Judicial Review, NUJS Law Review, Vol. 8, Issue 3-4, 2015.
· Should Valjean Have Been Punished For Stealing Bread? A Reflection on Poverty and Criminal Responsibility, 5 (Winter) JILS 1-12 2013.
· Situating the Right to Work in International Human Rights Law: An Agenda for the Protection of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, NUJS Law Review, Vol. 6, Issue 1, 2013.
· Looking Through the Prism of International Environment and Human Rights Law: International Civil Nuclear Liability Law and A Call for Indian Exceptionalism, International Journal of Nuclear Law, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp.276-291, 2012.
· Of Platitudes and Million Dollar Promises – A Critique of Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011, Journal of Indian Law and Society (co-authored), 3 (WINTER) JILS 2011: pp. 29-66.
· From Basel to Hong Kong: International Environmental Regulation of Ship-Recycling takes One Step Forward and Two Steps Back, 1 (2) Trade Law and Development 193 (2009).
· India Needs a Refugee Law, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 9, March 1 2008.
· The Fundamentals of the Right to Vote and its Constitutional Status published in NALSAR Student Law Review, Vol. I, 2005.
· Poverty as Embarrassment- A Critique of State Responses and Responsibilities to Vagrancy, (co­-authored), published in NALSAR Student Law Review, Vol. I, 2005.

Newspaper Columns and Blogs

· “Saudi’s Neom project: What do its exploitative work conditions say about India’s migrant worker scenario?”, The Hindu’s In Focus Podcast, November 15, 2024
· Challenges to Social Security for Self-Employed Workers in India and the Code for Social Security Bill 2019, Dvara Research Blog, August 21, 2020
· The Need for Labour Reforms Must Not Be Conflated with Complete Deregulation, Scroll.in, May 11, 2020
· How competition law is affecting sports in India: a look at the emerging case law, LawinSports, September 06, 2018
· Delhi High Court’s censure of India’s vagrancy laws could be a step towards decriminalising begging, Scroll.in, August 25, 2018
· The Code on Wages Bill 2017: An Assault on Women’s Right to Equality in Employment, Law and Other Things, February 12, 2018.
· Why ‘Modicare’ is not a Gamechanger: The National Health Protection Scheme and the Human Right to Health, Journal of Indian Law and Society Blog, February 7, 2018.
· The Case for Putting Brakes on Aadhaar, The Statesman, January 28, 2017.
· A New Era or a False Dawn? A Comment on the Code on Wages Bill 2017, Journal of Indian Law and Society Blog, November 13, 2017.
· India Needs Proper Refugee Legislation, The Statesman, September 8, 2017.
· In Defence of Triple Test: A Case for Retaining the Bangalore Water Supply Standard, Law and Other Things, November 26, 2016
· Decoding the Draft Labour Code, LiveMint, June 10, 2015.

Research and Policy Advocacy

· Member of The Committee to Review Vagrancy Laws, Constituted by the Government of West Bengal – Prepared the Draft West Bengal Persons in Destitution (Protection and Care) Bill, 2018
· Submitted a Report on the Code on Wages Bill 2017 to the Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour and Employment (October 2017) – cited by the Report of the Standing Committee
· Co-authored a Report on the Draft Social Security Code Bill 2017 – submitted to the Ministry
of Labour and Employment (July 2017)
· Participated in a Pre-Legislative Consultation on the Draft Social Security Code Bill 2017 conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and National Law University Delhi (May 2017)
· Co-authored a Report on the Draft Code on Industrial Relations Bill 2015-submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Employment (May 2015)
· Co-authored a Report on the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011–submitted to the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (August 2011)