Usha Tandon appointed first VC of National Law University, Prayagraj
She is currently a senior professor in the faculty of law at the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University
Senior academician and a well-known name in the field of legal studies and research Prof Usha Tandon has been appointed as the first vice-chancellor of the recently set up Dr Rajendra Prasad National Law University (NLU), Prayagraj. She is currently a senior professor in the faculty of law at the Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, where she is dean (faculty of law) and teaches environmental law, population law, gender justice and family law.
Prof Tandon has over 30 years of teaching experience and she is recognised for her research in the areas of human development, with a particular emphasis on environmental protection and women empowerment.
She has also authored and edited several books on various aspects of the law relating to environmental protection and women rights.
Her published work includes those on Energy Law (Oxford University Press); Biodiversity Law (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group); Climate Change (Eastern Book Company); Gender Justice (Regal Publications); and Human Trafficking Law (Central Law Agency). She also has more than 50 research papers to her credit published in various international and national journals.
“I will arrive and take charge in Prayagraj as soon as I am relieved from the law department of Delhi University. Land and budget have been obtained for the National Law University in Prayagraj but construction will still take some time. Till then we will start running the university from some other campus,” she said while speaking from the national capital.
The priority is to start study of law from the session 2023-24 itself. The posts of teachers have been approved and we will start the five-year BA-LLB course from this session. For this, the no objection certificate from Bar Council of India (BCI) is not necessary for one year, shared Prof Tandon, a former Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for International and Comparative Private Law, Hamburg, Germany, (2011) and International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France, (2007).
It is worth mentioning that the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet had approved to establish a National Law University at Prayagraj on July 29, 2020. For the establishment of this university, ‘Uttar Pradesh National Law University Prayagraj Act, 2020’ was also passed by the Uttar Pradesh Legislature in 2020.
President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, laid its foundation stone on September 11, 2021.
On December 3, 2021, on the birth anniversary of the first President of India Dr Rajendra Prasad, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced that the National Law University in Deoghat, Jhalwa in Prayagraj would be named after Dr Rajendra Prasad.
The varsity is being constructed on a 28.599-acre land and would finally be spread across 33.58 acres. In the first phase, the varsity would offer BA-LLB five-year course with 60 seats for which earlier a total of 71 posts had been created including 11 posts each of professors and associate professors respectively, 34 posts of assistant professors and 15 other posts.
For creating the top three posts of the varsity—vice-chancellor, registrar and finance controller— the state government had issued orders on July 6 specifying the pay scales in which these posts would be created following a formal approval granted by the UP governor in this regard, said officials.
