Welcome Back to the November 2023 Trimester!

We are back on campus for our second Trimester of the Academic Year 2023-24! While our students and faculty have been away during the term break, various University teams have been busy on multiple fronts and working hard on various upgrades on the NLS campus. Here are some of the latest updates and changes this term.

What’s New on Campus?

SBA Elections 2023-24  

Aditi Sheth and V. Ashish are our new Co-Presidents of the SBA!

The SBA election for 2023-24 was held on 4th November 2023 under the supervision of the Electoral Board with coordination and support from outgoing SBA Co-president Manthan D. The election process was conducted in accordance with SBA Constitution and Electoral Guidelines issued by the Electoral Board on 31st October 2023. We thank the outgoing SBA Co-presidents, Mr. Manthan Dayananda and Ms. Girija Bhosale, for their outstanding services to the University in Academic Year 2022-23.

We congratulate V Ashish and Aditi Sheth as they take up their new responsibilities and look forward to the student body carrying out its activities for the terms ahead!

Infrastructure upgrades 

• To conserve water and avoid wastage, water flow restrictors have been installed on all taps and showers in all University buildings which will significantly reduce water wastage without compromising the user experience. We have also implemented well recharge solutions and activated two defunct borewells on campus.
• Following on to the augmentation of our internet facilities at the start of AY 2023-24, all University buildings have been upgraded to full WiFi coverage. This includes the Training Centre and Faculty and Staff Quarters.
• Lifts have been installed in the Narmada and Yamuna Halls of Residence to improve accessibility. The new floors recently added in the Narmada, Yamuna and Brahmaputra blocks has already helped augment the residential capacity through the addition of 100 new rooms in these Halls.
• The optimised layout of the newer rooms in the Residential Halls allowed for the installation of new standardised furniture with increased functional space. At the same time, we also made sure that the replaced furniture on campus doesn’t go to waste. The University donated over 3500 items of usable furniture including desks, chairs, cots and cupboards to institutions which were in need of these supplies. These donations were made to as many as 75 institutions including government schools and NGOs.
• More than 40 new notice/ bulletin boards have now been installed on campus to optimise public viewing. These boards have also been evenly distributed across buildings – on each floor of the Old and New Academic Blocks, outside each classroom and in each Hall of Residence. These modern boards have clear slots for insertion of notices without requiring any pins/ tape. To keep the notices current, all notices must be marked with a ‘remove by’ date. The Facilities and Student Welfare Teams will shortly circulate detailed instructions for putting up notices on these boards.

Digital Upgrades

• We have completed the migration of data to the new academic administrative platform. For ease of use across devices, students are encouraged to download the app. Our platform integrates classroom attendance, raising tickets for any issues relating to hostel administration or the Health Centre, fee payments and booking of venues. Student Committees can also now submit and track requests for event approvals and reimbursements through the platform. In due course, internships and placements applications too will be integrated into this. Any feedback can be shared with the office of the COO at
• The Learning Management System has been upgraded to improve the User Interface and integrate all academic submissions. Students are encouraged to download the  app customised for NLSIU that will allow them to access learning materials from all devices.
• We had earlier enabled RFID based check-in/ out of books at the Library, which allows you to issue books using University ID cards. From this trimester, entry into the Library too will require a simple tap-in with your ID card at the reader set up at the Library entrance. Meanwhile, we are nearly finished with scanning our entire collection of books as part of the Library Digitisation project. We will soon be starting with the scanning process for journals so that digital copies of physical journals will also be accessible soon.

Who’s New on Campus?

We are pleased to welcome six new colleagues to the NLS community at the start of this trimester. This includes two faculty members, two administrative staff and two research staff:

• Mr. Manish, Assistant Professor
• Mr. Balu G Nair, Assistant Professors
• Mr. Justin Joseph, Careers & Placement Officer
• Ms. Soumya Samal as Communications Associate
• Ms. Madhur Bharatiya, Research Associate, Centre for Women and the Law
• Ms. Jova Rachel Joseph, Social Worker, Centre for the Child and the Law.

We are also excited to share that 24 external faculty will teach/co-teach elective courses at NLSIU this trimester. As many as 36 electives in total are being offered by both internal and external faculty. The People Directory on the NLS website will feature more detailed profiles of all new faces of this trimester. As our new colleagues begin their NLS journey, we wish them the best and hope to ensure that they feel encouraged and supported in every way in this community.

Student Life Updates

Intramural Life and Colleges 

We began a new chapter at NLS this Academic Year with our four new colleges (Andromeda, Aquila, Orion, and Phoenix), which helps us organise intramural life in a new manner.

This November term, our Student Welfare Team along with the College Heads and the SBA are already designing a comprehensive events calendar. The calendar will primarily chart out three kinds of activities: committee events, college events, and residence events. Along with this, all public lectures and other events organised by the University will also be integrated into the calendar for ease of access and awareness among the student community.

University Teams too have been selected for Badminton, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Basketball and Quizzing. We wish them the very best for the upcoming sporting events as they will now proceed to represent NLSIU in external competitions. Check out our Colleges page on the NLS website to see how they fare on the leaderboard over the course of the trimester with regard to the various events: https://www.nls.ac.in/collegesnlsiu/.

Congratulations are also due to all participants and winners of the July 2023 trimester which turned out to be an eventful one with the various competitions and selection rounds that took place. We look forward to witnessing the upcoming events as our colleges gear up to bring out their competitive best in the November 2023 term.

Student Journals 

The Journal Selection Rules for student-led journals have been recently revised to simplify the selection process, while maintaining diversity across programmes and batches. Team strengths and roles were revisited to streamline the functioning of journals. A total of 223 students appeared for the Annual Journal Selection Test held on September 18, 2023. Of these, 58 students have now been selected for editorial roles across our five student-led journals: NLSIR, SLR, IJLT, NLSBLR and IJIEL.

The Vice-Chancellor, as Journals Patron, has introduced Faculty Boards for all NLSIU journals, for a term of two years: AY 2023-24 and AY 2024-25. The Faculty Board for each journal will work with the student Editorial Board and the Editor, NLSIU, to supervise the functioning of the Journal. They will contribute as internal reviewers as well as make key decisions on manuscripts to expedite the review and publishing process. They will work with existing Editorial Boards to ensure the smooth functioning of processes, timely publication, and quality content. This move is intended at strengthening journal performance, both in terms of quality and timeliness.

For journal related information, please write to Ms. Nishtha Vadehra at 

Student Committees 

The Student Council recently adopted a new mechanism for the constitution of the SBA committees for AY 2023-24 – this was driven by the principle of inclusion and equal opportunity for all and continued membership based on active participation. Ten committees have been constituted in this manner so far: the ADR Board, Cultural Committee, Event Management Committee, Law and Society Committee, SIPLA, Moot Court Society, Law and Technology Society, Sports Committee, and Literary and Debating Society and CIRIL.

Redeveloped Master Plan – Next Steps

We are now in the final stage of the complete redevelopment of the Library precinct to relate better to the Library space and the adjoining New Academic Block. It is our aim to complete Phase II with the least disruption to academic and library facilities for the coming trimester.

As part of this redevelopment, 6300 sq m of landscape area surrounding the Library building is being shaped into eight distinct zones, each of which are provided with seating options, power plug points and lighting to optimise use.

• The four Reading Courtyards are each centred around a different theme, with a  reflection pool, boulders and lawns. Courtyards away from the walkway and the external road will provide quieter outdoor spaces for performances or meetings.
• The Amphitheatre will be the University’s largest event venue, fitting 500 persons on the broad steps and the open stage/ plaza. The Lower Ground Floor of the Library houses green rooms and AV control rooms for this stage. When not being used for an event, the backstage area faces a rectangular pool and provides additional seating.
• The Entry Garden will provide seating facing the Library and the Pathway, with a cafe and an arbor/ light roof seating area on the southern side. Open to the sky, this zone will allow for easy movement from the Library to the NAB and the Pathway.
• The Pathway leading from Gate 2 till Gate 3 will be the first portion of the campus walkway re-designed in line with the principles of the Revised Master Plan to ensure universal accessibility. The pathway has been broadened to accommodate the increased footfalls and will also provide clustered seating at multiple points for small gatherings.

These Library precincts have been designed by the team at IDEA DESIGN, led by principal architect Michael Little. The on-ground work has been undertaken by the GoodEarth team. The Reading Courtyards, Entry Garden and Amphitheatre surrounding the Library will be completed and opened over the course of this trimester. We also are looking forward to opening of the SBA Common Room and a music room in December 2023!