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THE THIRD WORLD MOOT COURT AND JUDGMENT WRITING COMPETITION BY KSHITIZZ NGO: REGISTER NOW!!

About Kshitizz NGO

Kshitizz (a Hindi word that meaning “Horizon”) is an NGO, formed by advocates, lawyers, and law students of premier legal institutions especially Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Visakhapatnam. Change is more expensive than Gold and that is what we at Kshitizz are striving to achieve. We are trying not only to build community leaders but also a society that is progressive, self-sustained, and enlightened. It was created by the young, ambitious, and curious students with the aim of changing the world.

About the third world moot court and judgement writing competition

The third-world moot court and judgement writing competition, launched by Kshitizz NGO is a first-of-its-kind competition, where the third world issues would be focused on. It would enable the participants to learn the nuances of different legal subjects and their practical applications, which would help them in refining their skills. The competition would also provide them with a platform to interact with dynamic professionals from the field, as well; thus, enhancing their exposure, further.

While learning the laws would be the primary focus of the competition, it would also strive towards sensitizing the participants on third-world issues so as to enable them in coming up with more sensitive and unique solutions, which would befit the third-world problems.

Moot problem

Skypar homes limited and others……………………………………Appellants

v.

Resident Welfare Association, Skypar housing society, Ikaira………Respondents

  1. The Republic of Mendika is one of the most densely populated nations in the world. Land is scarce and the population of the nation is ever increasing. Due to the scarcity of land, people are investing in multi-layered skyscrapers, in most places within Mendika; especially in the metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities. Due to a surge in the demand of houses, the real estate sector has seen a major boom.
  2. In wake of such high demand, several business houses have begun investing in the sector in the past decade. One such business house is the Skypar homes limited, which was involved in developing of a mega-housing society in a cosmopolitan city, named Ikaira. The housing society was initially planned to have ten towers hosting 50 houses each, a huge central park, two swimming pools, two shopping complexes, a health center and a gymnasium. All the amenities were to be shared by the residents of all the houses of the ten towers. The approval from the appropriate authorities were sought, and the construction activities began.
  3. By the time of completion of the fourth tower, Skypar realized that the demand for houses was ever-increasing, mainly in the city of Ikaira, due to its booming software industry. So, it thought of modifying its plan and building two new towers with 80 houses each. Accordingly, these two towers, famously known as the Paired towers, would have 16 floors, as opposed to the other towers, which would have only ten. And these new towers’ construction would reduce the size of the central park to 50 percent of its original size. This new plan was put up for approval from the authorities. Pending approval, Skypar had begun construction of the Paired towers.
  4. It is noteworthy to mention here that the construction of the paired towers violated two major laws. Firstly, the Resident Welfare Act (RWA) which required that any change in the original plan, would require a consent from the resident welfare association, i.e., an association of persons who were already living or who had bought the flats from such developer or who had booked their flats therein. People had actually begun living in towers 1 to 3, but no information about the change in plan was given to them, at all. Secondly, the Fire safety regulations (FSR) were violated, because the regulations required that for towers having more than 10 floors, a minimum gap of 15 meters was to be maintained from all the adjoining towers, but the paired towers had a gap of 6 meters between themselves and 8 meters from the other towers. When the approval was being sought, the fire safety officer had flagged the concern around the non-adherence to the regulations, but Skypar didn’t pay any heed to it.
  5. Eventually, the authorities granted approval to the construction of the Paired towers, which were already 40% complete by then. The resident welfare association was enraged by this and it filed a petition in the High Court of Amirana, the state in which Ikaira was situated. The high court looked into the case and found that there was a blatant violation of laws. It noted that,

            “Most of the construction activities in the recent times are pushed not only by the increasing market demand, but also by the unholy nexus between the developers and approving authorities. To gain some personal benefits, the officials who sit on the approvals, grant go-aheads, without considering the potential negative impacts of such developments on the people who would eventually inhabit such houses.”

            “In case of a fire accident, the people cannot be effectively rescued due to lack of space between the towers. Obnoxious proximity between the towers would result in invasion of privacy of the residents. The lack of space would deny people of basic natural amenities, e.g., fresh air and sunlight. Further, not seeking consent of the resident welfare association shows the mala fide intention of the developer. Furthermore, when the developer failed to inform the association, at least the authorities are expected to have done the same; but they didn’t bother either. If the executive puts up such a careless attitude, only God can save the people.”

  1. Having noted this, the High court ordered the demolition of the paired towers, within 120 days of its order. The court further noted the following:
  1. Skypar homes limited was extremely saddened by the decision of the High court and appealed to the Supreme Court of Mendika, claiming that right to shelter is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of Mendika, and demolishing as many as 160 houses would have a severe impact on housing of several families, especially in the current situation, where the prices of houses are soaring high and the land resource is reeling under pressure. It has further contended that such a large-scale demolition would impact the business, and the economic stature of the company, and hence would impact the livelihood of all those who are working with the company, for no fault of theirs. This becomes relevant as right to livelihood has also been declared as a part of right to life.
  2. Simultaneously, an NGO named SANRAKSHAN filed a petition at the Supreme Court of Mendika, under Article 32 of its Constitution, claiming that such a large-scale demolition would severely impact the air quality, water quality and soil quality of the adjoining areas. It would create heaps of waste, the management of which would be a herculean task. The flora and fauna of the place would get impacted due to the emission of dust from the demolition exercise. And it is also a wastage of the natural resources of the country. All of these would invariably have an impact of the environment of the Ikaira, and hence would impact the health and well-being of the people. Thus, it would violate their right to life.
  3. All the petitions have been clubbed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Republic of Mendika and are pending before it. As a preventive step, the Supreme Court has injuncted the execution of the demolition, until the final disposal of the case.

Note:

  1. The laws of the Republic of Mendika are pari materia to the laws of India.
  2. Students shall prepare memorials/arguments for both sides.
  3. Students may frame their own issues.

Important dates:

Rules and regulations for the moot court competition

All participants are strictly required to adhere to the rules and regulations prescribed by the organising committee. Any non-adherence may result in disqualification of the team.

In case of any conflict or doubt about the interpretation of any rule, the decision of the organising committee shall be final and binding.

Definitions:

  1. ‘Bench’- The members who would be judging the oral rounds of the competition.
  2. ‘Clarifications’- The doubts, questions and other information sought by the registered participants, from the organising committee, within the specified deadline.
  3. ‘Competition’- The third-world moot court and judgement writing competition.
  4. ‘Court room’- The online platform where the oral rounds would be organised.
  5. ‘Moot problem’- The set of facts given out by the Organising committee, based on which the arguments must be framed, and judgement be written.
  6. ‘Organising committee’- The group of people responsible for conducting the competition.
  7. ‘Penalty’- The deductions imposed on the scores of the participating teams.
  8. ‘Scouting’- The action of gathering information about a competing team.
  9. ‘Speaker’- The participants presenting oral arguments in a round.
  10. ‘Team code’- The alpha-numeric code allotted to each team, which shall be used for their identification.

Language of the Competition

The competition shall be conducted in English language only.

Eligibility for the Competition and Team Composition

Law students enrolled in 3 years LL.B. programmes or 5 years integrated law programmes from any BCI recognised institution are eligible to participate. Only one team is allowed to participate from each institution. No cross-institution teams shall be allowed to participate.

Each team shall have three members, with two speakers and one researcher. The designation of each member should be clearly mentioned during the registration process. Upon registration, the teams shall not be allowed to change their memberships, under any circumstance.

Dress Code

The participating teams must adhere to the following dress code, throughout the competition.

Males- White shirt, black trousers, black tie, black blazer, and black shoes.

Females- White salwar and kurta or white shirt and black trousers along with a black blazer and black shoes.

Registration process

Name of account holder: Kshitizz NGO, Sabbavaram, Andhra Pradesh

Account number: 283710100054585

IFSC code: UBIN0828378

Clarifications

Every registered team is allowed to seek clarifications on the moot proposition by 15th April, 2023 by writing a mail to competitions.kshitizz@gmail.com, with the subject line “Clarifications on the moot proposition”.

It is advised that the teams should write one mail regarding the clarifications sought, preferably by the first speaker, who shall be the point of communication between the organising committee and the team, for the purpose of the competition.

Memorandum submission

All memorandums shall be compliant with the rules of the competition.

Oral rounds

Marking criteria

Memorandum

Knowledge of Law 30
Clarity in understanding of facts and issues 15
Extent of legal research and analysis 30
Grammar and Style 15
Referencing and citations 10

Oral rounds

Application of laws to the facts 25
Use of relevant authorities 25
Articulation and presentation 20
Time management 10
Responsiveness to questions and rebuttals 10
Demeanour and mannerisms 10

General Code of Conduct

Awards

Rules and regulations for the judgement writing competition

This competition has been launched with the objective of inculcating among law students the art of writing lucid judgements. This would not only help them think clearer and write better; but also, would develop their critical thinking abilities. Since the participants would assume the role of a judge, they would be able to look at both sides of a problem and come out with a balanced outcome. Since the competition is focused on third-world issues, the students are required to view the problem at hand from a third-world perspective and come up with their judgements, though references to foreign case-laws isn’t prohibited.

The problem for the judgement writing competition would be same as that of the moot court competition.

Important dates:

The results of the judgement-writing competition would be declared in the Valedictory ceremony held for the moot court competition.

Language of the Competition

The competition shall be conducted in English language only.

Eligibility for the Competition

Law students enrolled in 3 years LL.B. programmes or 5 years integrated law programmes from any BCI recognised institution are eligible to participate. Co-authorship up to two authors is allowed. Cross-institution authorships are welcome.

Registration process

Name of account holder: Kshitizz NGO, Sabbavaram, Andhra Pradesh

Account number: 283710100054585

IFSC code: UBIN0828378

The author(s) must send in their details, i.e., the name, phone number, email address, and institutional affiliation; along with a screenshot of the payment made to competitions.kshitizz@gmail.com for the purpose of registration. The registration fee is non-refundable.

Clarifications

Every registered author(s) is allowed to seek clarifications on the moot proposition by 15th April, 2023 by writing a mail to competitions.kshitizz@gmail.com, with the subject line “Clarifications on the moot proposition”. Mails seeking clarifications without the subject line will not be replied to.

Submission guidelines

Evaluation

The submissions would be evaluated for the following:

Understanding and presentation of facts 15
Identification of relevant issues 20
Application of law to facts and the understanding of law 25
Use of authorities 25
Lucidness in writing 20
Viability and uniqueness of the judgement 15

General rules of the competition

Awards

Winner- Rs. 1500

First Runner’s Up- Rs. 1200

Second Runner’s Up- Rs. 1000

A certificate of participation shall be issued to every participant.

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