M'lorean set to make second Pune village litigation-free

Believing this, a Mangalorean law teacher took up the task of making legal education more efficient in her own small way in the college that she heads. An idea that came as an exercise has proved out to be a great experience for the law graduates.

Dean of Symbiosis Internal Law School Dr Prof Shashikar Shetty Gurpur took a small step of involving her students in making one of the backward villages in Pune district named Pirangut litigation-free through ‘Tantamukti Gram Yojana’ of the state government.

Pirangut village was adopted by the college in 2008 and it was declared by the Central government as litigation-free village in 2009. Motivated by this, the college is set to adopt another village in the district as a part of practical learning method.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dr Shetty said that this year the group of 45 law students will adopt Somtane village in Pune district and toil to make it litigation-free.

“The survey has already been started and village camps will start in November. We will hand pick only those students who are fluent in Marati. The team will prepare the detailed reports on the number of disputes pending in village. Students and faculty will discuss each case and come out with solutions to make the village free from litigations,” Dr Shetty said and added that Somtane village was selected by the college for the programme because it has been a victim of the proposed Hinjewadi Info Tech Park. Over 1,000 families have been displaced and since illiteracy is a major problem there the people’s knowledge and access to legal mechanisms is limited.

“We are not here to stay in the village permanently. Hence, empowering the local governing bodies and capacity building among the villagers is our aim. We have seen the impact of legal awareness in Pirangut and now we hope to see the same outcome here,” said Dr Shetty adding that in Somtane the issues are mainly related to disputes within their family members regarding the ownership of land etc.

The programme involves a panel of distinguished panel, alumnus of the institution who extends support to the villagers.

Shashikala, who is a member of Law Commission of India, had bagged Legal Education Innovation Award – 2011, instituted by Society of India Law Firms (SILF) and Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy Training (MILAT) for her entrepreneurship and creativity as a law teacher.