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7th INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION RULE BOOK
7th INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION RULE BOOK
UNIVERSITY, SHIMLA
Presents
(Friday - Saturday)
7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 3
3. Definitions ....................................................................................................................... 3
3. Anonymity of Participants............................................................................................... 5
5. Clarifications ................................................................................................................... 6
BACKOUT ................................................................................................................................ 9
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
INTRODUCTION
1. Short Title
1. This shall be called as the Rules for the 7th HPNLU Intra Moot Court Competition,
2024 (hereinafter referred to as “Competition”).
2. General Information
1. The Competition is being conducted by the Moot Court Committee of Himachal
Pradesh National Law University, Shimla and shall be held from 19th April, 2024 to
20th April, 2024.
2. The Competition shall be conducted in accordance with the rules mentioned
hereinunder and the participants are required to adhere to the same.
3. The ranks of this competition will be a determining factor for the representation of
teams in different National Moot Court Competitions, in addition to other factors
provided by MCC, HPNLU, Shimla
3. Definitions
a. “Bench” means the Judges of the Oral Rounds collectively.
b. “Competition” means the 7th HPNLU Intra Moot Court Competition, 2024, which
includes Oral Round.
c. “Memorial” means the written pleadings of each team, submitted pursuant to these
rules.
d. “Oral Round” means Pleadings of a team, submitted orally before the Bench on behalf
of the Petitioner or the Respondent by all the speakers.
i. “Organizers” shall mean the Moot Court Committee of the Himachal Pradesh National
Law University, Shimla.
e. “Petitioner/Appellant/Applicant” shall mean the one presenting the
petition/appeal/application respectively to the Hon’ble Court.
f. “Raw Speaker Score” shall mean the aggregate score of oral submissions of each
individual participant in oral pleadings from either of the side which he/she will be
representing.
g. “Rebuttals” mean the Questions or Contentions presented by the
Petitioner/Appellant/Applicant in response to the Respondent’s submissions.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
3. Anonymity of Participants
1. A Team Code will be allotted to each team to indicate their registration.
2. The participants must be identified only by the Team code that will be allotted to them
after registration.
4. Memorial Submission
1. Each team must prepare a memorial for either of the parties, i.e., the
petitioner/appellant/applicant and the respondent which will be allotted to such team
via draw of lots.
2. The deadline for submission of the Soft copies of the memorial is on or before, 15th
April, 2024 11:59 P.M.
3. Submission of memorial beyond the prescribed time shall not be entertained. Memorial
submitted beyond the prescribed time limit shall be disqualified from participating in
the Competition.
4. The soft copies of the memorials in PDF format shall be submitted through Google
form only, link for which is gven below; memorials submitted through any other
medium shall not be entertained.
SUBMISSION OF MEMORIAL
5. Each team must submit 2 (two) Hard copies of the memorial by, 17th April, 2024, 4:30
P.M. There shall be no inconsistency in the contents of the soft copy and the hard
copy of the Memorial.
6. Memorial must contain the following:
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
5. Clarifications
1. All clarifications and queries pertaining to the moot proposition shall only be sought
through the google form given below. No queries regarding the same be clarified via
any other means, including email and phone calls.
CLARIFICATIONS FORM
2. The last date to submit clarifications is 10th April 2024.
3. The clarifications will be released latest by 13th April 2024 via email.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
7. Oral Rounds
1. Each team shall argue once from either side as per the draw of lots, i.e.,
Petitioner/Applicant/Appellant or Respondent.
2. All the three speakers will be presenting their arguments.
3. Each team will be provided 25 minutes including rebuttal/sur-rebuttal in the oral round.
4. Each speaker will argue not more than 7 minutes and less than 5 minutes. One speaker
will argue not less than one issue.
5. Each Team will assign minimum one minute to rebuttal and one minute to sur-rebuttal
for their issues.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
TOTAL 100
9. Plagiarism
1. Plagiarism beyond 25% may lead to disqualification of the team from the competition.
2. If similar memorial is submitted by two or more than two teams, it will lead to
disqualification of such teams.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
BACKOUT
1. The last date for backing out is 2nd April, 2024 (11:59 P.M.) via a google form, that
will be circulated via email.
2. After that, the participants cannot back out from the competition and if they fail to
participate then it shall attract appropriate actions from the MCC, HPNLU, Shimla and
they shall be debarred for representing the University in any moot court competition for
the whole academic year.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
IMPORTANT DATES
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
MOOT PROPOSITION
1. The Republic of Jyotirbhumi is a large democratic country situated in the Jyotirbhumi Sub-
continent. The country has a rich history dating back to the 5000th century B.C.E. The
country has witnessed several regimes, rulers, invasions, and colonizers over the years.
Because of this, Jyotirbhumi is now a diverse country, with people from different
ethnicities, religions, cultures, and languages.
2. Jyotirbhumi, the world’s largest democracy, gained its independence from British colonial
rule in 1947. The transition to democracy marked a new era in Jyotirbhumi’s history,
characterized by social, political, and economic transformations. The framers of the
Jyotirbhumi’s Constitution meticulously crafted a visionary document that enshrined
democratic principles and ideals. It was adopted on January 26, 1950, officially establishing
Jyotirbhumi as a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic. It provided a
framework for governance that safeguarded fundamental rights, enshrined the principles of
equality and justice, and outlined the separation of powers among the executive, legislative,
and judicial branches.
3. The population of Jyotirbhumi is around 140 crores. Most people follow Hinduism, making
up 75% of the population. About 15% practice Islam and the remaining 10% follow other
religions.
4. The Uniform Civil Code in Jyotirbhumi is the proposal to replace the personal laws based
on the scriptures and customs of each major religion with a common set governing every
citizen. These laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce,
inheritance, adoption, and maintenance (Personal Laws). Article 44 of the Directive
Principles in Jyotirbhumi sets its implementation as the duty of the State. Earlier, only the
State of Suryanagar, which was a Portuguese colony, had successfully implemented the
Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Jyotirbhumi.
5. Apart from being an important issue regarding secularism in Jyotirbhumi, it became one of
the most controversial topics in contemporary politics during the Ahmad Khan v. Shah
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Bano Begum 1case in 1985. The debate then shifted to the Mumtaz Personal Law, which is
partly based on Sharia law and has remained unchanged since 1937. This law allows
unilateral divorce and polygamy in the country. The Bano case made it a politicized public
issue focused on identity politics—by means of attacking specific religious minorities
versus protecting their cultural identity.
6. In contemporary politics, the Nationalist Party of Jyotirbhumi (NPJ) supported it, while the
Progressive Party and Mumtaz Personal Law Board opposed it. Suryanagar has a common
family law, thus being the only Jyotirbhumian state to have a uniform civil code.
Additionally, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, allows any citizen to have a civil marriage
outside the realm of any specific religious personal law.
7. The issue of whether to enact a UCC for all citizens was debated at the time of framing of
the Constitution, in the 1950s parliamentary debates and came up again in the 1970s, within
the ethos of a democratic resolution of differences. The thrust of the arguments in favour
of the UCC was that the newly formed and slowly industrializing Union of Jyotirbhumi
required the construction of a modern, political community. This, in turn, necessitated
transferring people’s particularistic attachments from their pre-modern communities to the
nation-state. Questions of women’s equality in the family and minority accommodation
were other concerns informing these debates. However, there was opposition to this move
by the state from different sections of all communities.
8. There were six parties taking part in the debate. Between the 1950s and 1970s, the meaning
of the UCC meant different things to different groups. On the part of the state, a UCC
represented the conflict between an image of a unified political community and the practice
of accommodation through bargaining and compromise implicit in the governance of a
plural society. Modernists from both the Hindu and the Muslim communities saw the UCC
as the actualization of the state’s commitment to secularism and as a tool to foster national
unity. The conservative and moderate sections of the minorities saw the UCC as a
majoritarian device to ensure political assimilation and as a tool for creating a Hindu
Nation. For the Jyotirbhumian women’s movement, the UCC was seen to be synonymous
1
(1985 (2) SCC 556)
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
with both the achievement of women’s equality within the family and the abolition of pre-
modern and backward community authority resistant to the ideals of women’s equality.
9. At this critical point in framing the Constitution, the state made a strategic decision to
acknowledge the multicultural landscape within its jurisdiction in order to garner support
from religious and cultural minority groups. Rather than implementing a UCC, the state
made an amendment to the non-justiciable Directive Principles of the Jyotirbhumian
Constitution, emphasizing the state’s commitment to strive towards the enactment of such
a code.
10. Furthermore, the state took steps to reform Hindu law, although it did not actively pursue
gender equality initiatives. By codifying Hindu law, the state essentially created a legal
framework around the identity of being “Hindu,” which encompassed not only Hindus but
also Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes. Under these reforms,
Hindu law now sanctioned divorce permitted inter-caste marriages, allowed for customary
divorces, acknowledged customary authorities, and granted women limited inheritance
rights. While these reforms represented progress in certain areas, the absence of
comprehensive measures addressing gender equality highlights an ongoing challenge
within the legal system.
11. The frequent conflict between secular and religious authorities over the issue of the UCC
eventually decreased, until the Shah Bano case in 1985. Shah Bano was a 73-year-old
woman who sought maintenance from her husband, Muhammad Ahmad Khan. He had
divorced her after 40 years of marriage by triple Talaq (saying “I divorce thee” three times)
and denied her regular maintenance; this sort of unilateral divorce was permitted under the
Mumtaz Muslim Personal Law. She was initially granted maintenance by the verdict of a
local court in 1980. Khan, a lawyer himself, challenged this decision, taking it to the
Supreme Court, saying that he had fulfilled all his obligations under Islamic law. The
Supreme Court ruled in her favour in 1985 under the “maintenance of wives, children, and
parents” provision (Section 125) of the Criminal Code, which applied to all citizens
irrespective of their religious identity. It further recommended that a UCC be set up.
Besides her case, two other Muslim women had previously received maintenance under the
Criminal code in 1979 and 1980. The politicization led to an argument having two major
sides: the former ruling government and Muslim conservatives versus the Hindu right wing
and the Left.
12. During this period, there were notable legislative amendments made to the personal laws
governing Parsis and Christians. Additionally, the enactment of the Hindu Succession
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
PRESENT DISPUTE
15. On February 27 2023, the ruling NPJ enacted the UCC in the State of Gyan Pradesh,
Jyotirbhumi, triggering widespread debate and contention among various segments of
society.
16. The NPJ, which again won the National election with a greater majority, did not enact the
UCC at the national level but promised in their political manifesto for the general election
of 2023 that if they win in the National General elections, they will implement the UCC at
the National Level. This led to a debate in the whole country and became an important topic
for the General election of April-May 2023.
17. The NPJ won the general election by securing 370 seats out of 545 seats, leading to their
third term at the Central Government.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
18. On 5th August 2023, the government brought a bill in the House of People (Lok Sabha) to
enact a UCC at the National Level. After being passed by the House of People, the bill was
also passed by the House of States (Rajya Sabha), paving the way for the bill to become an
Act. The Bill received assent from the President of Jyotirbhumi on 9th August, 2023 and
on the same day, it was notified in the Official Gazette of Jyotirbhumi.
19. The State said that the UCC, aimed at standardizing personal laws governing marriage,
divorce, inheritance, and maintenance across religious lines and making women’s laws par
with men in all religions, by enacting UCC the State has fulfilled its Constitutional duties
entrusted by the Constitution under Article 44.
20. Following the passing of the UCC, widespread protests erupted across various parts of the
country, with demonstrators demanding the repeal of the law. Concurrently, the NGO
Mukam, dedicated to advocating for Muslim rights, along with the Mumtaz Personal Law
Board, filed writ petitions, challenging the constitutional validity of UCC, in the High Court
of Himavat Pradesh in 2024. Similar writ petitions were also filed by various NGOs,
religious boards, and private entities in different states.
21. The NGO Mukam filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Jyotirbhumi for the consolidation
of all Uniform Civil Code (UCC) related cases pending before different High Courts and
requested the Supreme Court to list them for adjudication. Utilizing its authority under
Article 139A(1) of the Constitution of Jyotirbhumi, the Supreme Court clubbed the
different petitions pending before various high courts and scheduled a hearing for April 19,
2024.
22. The Honourable Supreme Court of Jyotirbhumi, which issued notices to the Union of
Jyotirbhumi, the States, and other concerned parties to present a contest on the following
final issues before the Constitutional Bench:
A. Whether the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the Republic of
Jyotirbhumi violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 25 to 28 of the
Constitution of Jyotirbhumi?
B. Whether the enactment of a Uniform Civil Code in Jyotirbhumi is inconsistent with
the principles of secularism enshrined in the Constitution of Jyotirbhumi?
C. Whether the enactment and implementation of Uniform Civil Code of Jyotirbhumi
violates the principle of federalism which is part of Basic Structure of the Constitution
of Jyotirbhumi?
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
Note:
(i) The Constitution and all other laws of Jyotirbhumi are in pari materia with the
Constitution and other laws of India.
(ii) Participants are at liberty to take additional arguments/grounds in support of the issues
raised herein.
(iii) This moot proposition is the Intellectual Property Right of the MCC, HPNLU, Shimla.
Any use, reproduction, distribution, or modification of this moot proposition without
prior written permission from MCC, HPNLU, is strictly prohibited.
The events and characters depicted in the moot court problem are purely a work of fiction and
hypothetical. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This Moot
Problem is intended solely for the Moot Court Competition and educational purposes among
law.
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7th HPNLU INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, 2024
Organizers
Patron
Prof. (Dr.) Prof. (Dr.) Chanchal Kumar Singh
Vice-Chancellor, HPNLU, Shimla
Faculty Coordinators
Dr. Ambika (Chairperson)
Dr. Bharat Barowalia (Faculty Convenor)
Mr. Piyush Kumar
Mr. Aayush Raj
Dr. Arun Klair
Dr. Rohit Sharma
Dr. Nutan Kanwar
Faculty Advisors
Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Jaswal
Dr. Santosh Kumar Sharma
Student Members
Mr. Abhyudaya Mishra
Ms. Kaushiki Jindal
Ms. Arpitha Krishnan
Mr. Gaurav Kumar Singh
Ms. Yashasvi Sharma
Mr. Raghav Kaura
Mr. Sidhanta Batra
Student Advisors
Mr. Subham Saurabh
Ms. Ankita
Mr. Tananjay Singh
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CONTACT DETAILS
Any queries related to the intra moot court rules shall be directed to mcc@hpnlu.ac.in or the
below mentioned MCC Student Members:
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