NLSIU Students Win the 22nd Edition of Dinesh Vyas Memorial National Legal Essay Competition, 2024
June 10, 2025
We congratulate our students Suhani Chhaperwal and Srishti Agrawal [third year BA LLB (Hons)] for winning the 22nd edition of the Dinesh Vyas Memorial National Legal Essay Competition, 2024. The essay competition was organised by Government Law College (GLC), Mumbai in October-November 2024, and the results were announced in 2025.
Their winning essay was titled ‘Markets and Myths: Rebalancing and Reshaping Fair Use in the Age of Shadow Libraries.’ The essay analysed the four-factor test in ‘Fair Use’ in the context of shadow libraries such as ‘Libgen’ and ‘Sci-hub’ in India in light of the recent US copyright case revolving around the free e-lending facility of ‘Internet Archive’.
About the competition
The National Legal Essay Competition is organised by the Magazine Committee of Government Law College, Mumbai, in association with the Dinesh Vyas Public Charitable Trust. It is held in memory of the late Mr. Dinesh Vyas, a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India and an alumnus of GLC.
It is open to students across all years pursuing their 5-year integrated law course/3-year LL.B. course/LL.M. from any recognised university in India and equivalent law degree abroad for the academic year of 2023-2024.
Topics for 2024
The topics for submission for this latest edition of the competition were:
- One Nation, One Election: An Analysis of the report and its Implications for Indian democracy;
- Evaluating the Telecommunications Act 2023: Advancements, challenges, and implications for India’s digital future;
- Analysing the Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla vs. PCIT case: Implications and lessons from the Telangana High Court’s ruling on General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) [WP Nos. 46510 and 46467 of 2022 (Telangana High Court)];
- In the light of the recent US copyright case revolving around the free e-lending facility of Internet Archive, what should be the limits on ‘fair use’ of copyrighted works by students and academicians?
- Educational institutes’ restrictions on religious symbols: Safeguarding secularism or choking religious freedom?
- Reforming the Global Guardian: The ICJ’s Shortcomings in protecting individual rights and ensuring accountability for war crimes – Exploring solutions for greater effectiveness.