In 2018, during the BJP’s coalition government in J&K, ‘The J&K National Law University Bill’ was passed by the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly. But this bill didn’t receive then Governor NN Vohra’s nod immediately. And Vohra retired from the position of Governor in August 2018 leaving behind the proposal of setting up this important University. It was not 2018 when this step to improve legal education which fosters the rule of law was taken up. This proposal got roots after the ‘All India Law Ministers Conference’ in the mid-nineties. It was agreed in that conference to set up in each state of India a ‘law university’. This proposal of the mid-nineties took shape in October 2019 when this bill was given approval by Governor Satya Pal Malik before coming into effect of the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019. Luckily (after the bifurcation of the erstwhile J&K state) with some amendments to J&K National Law University Act, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs formally adopted the Act.
But since then, the National Law University in Jammu and Kashmir is still in papers only. And it appears that the procedural formalities take an undue long time even after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. This delay has diluted the primary objective behind the setting up of the National Law University in J&K. Presently, in J&K only three government universities and seven private law colleges are offering law courses. Due to it every year thousands of students, desirous of joining the field of law, fail to get seats in government institutions. Surprisingly, the Central University of Jammu has also contributed to this suffering of students in past many years in absence of law faculty. People belonging to the law fraternity were overjoyed with the announcement made in 2018. But now they all feel dejected due to dilly-dallying approach in the last four years on this university which is a future need of society.
Already twenty-one states in India have established National Law Universities and J&K is yet to have its own National Law University. Furthermore, this delay has failed the aim to bring the states without National Law Universities on par with other states that had national law universities. The government now has a serious role to play. Legal education needs to be improved on an urgent basis because the government and private law colleges' teaching style is outdated. Students at most colleges here have never heard of an ‘internship’. Whereas a student who studies at National Law University has many advantages if we start making the comparison. J&K is going through a period of social and economic changes after the abrogation of Article 370. But not working on a university education will stop the advancement of the prosperity of J&K’s society. It’s an ambitious undertaking and J&K is in dire need of a National Law University as such an initiative will go a long way toward the dissemination of legal knowledge and impart comprehensive legal education for the benefit of future generations.