NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’S MOVEMENTS

                                                    & Indore Institute of Law
                       E-mail : lawgroupindore@gmail.com  Web : www.napm-india.org

                  ——————————————————————————————————————————

Date: 26th August, 2012

                                  Retired Justices, Lawyers, Social Activists, Law Professors and Law Students join hands to form
                                                                ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE’S LAWYERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

                                                    wo Day National Conference concludes: Lawyers from 14 states participate 
Indore:  The two day National Conference of Lawyers for Social Justice, jointly organized by the Indore Institute of Law and the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) concluded today with a joint decision by more than two hundred participants present to form an ‘Alliance of Lawyers for Social Justice’. This decision was endorsed by all the members present including the Retired Justices, Lawyers, Social Activists, Law Professors and Law Students.
Hon’ble Justice Gyaniji, Retd Judge, High Court of Madhya Pradesh delivered the valedictory address on the concluding day. Acknowledging the collective effort of IIL and NAPM, for concretely taking this move of organizing the meet between lawyers and activists, he said that the State is bound to ensure the rights of its citizens; whether fundamental, legal, human or constitutional and vigilante citizens and groups such as the participants should continue to ensure that the rights of the marginalized are not transgressed under any circumstance.  He wished this initiative success and promised to guide and participate in the upcoming activities in every possible way. 
The second day began by brief presentations of the previous days’ discussions on various issues such as corruption, environment, civil liberties, women’s rights and urban poor concerns. Shri Ravi Kiran Jain, Senior Advocate, Allahabad High Court, Shri Kaleeshwaran, Advocate, High Court of Kerala and Shri Girish Gokhle, Legal practitioner from London participated in the Plenary Session on Development Planning and Displacement: Legal and Constitutional Challenges and spoke at length on various issues pertaining to the current paradigm of development planning. They all agreed that primacy must be given to the right to self-governance of the local democratic units i.e. the Gram Sabhas and the Basti Sabhas, as per Article 243 of the Constitution and the PESA Act and not to the extra constitutional bodies such as the Planning Commission or the Industrial Development Authorities.
A separate session called National Agenda and Strategy for Legal and Human Justice: Lawyers and their Role in movements for Justice was held late yesterday evening and also today afternoon, in which numerous participants made valuable suggestions to take forward the process of joint action and interaction between legal practitioners and social activists. Among the many decisions that were taken in the session include: 
i) Immediate action on legislations like the PESA Act in adivasi areas, Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill, Food Security Bill and Repeal of Repressive Laws.
ii) Better co-ordination of existing efforts towards legal and judicial reform.
iii) Reaching out to other law colleges, Bar Associations and law groups.
iv) Activating the Legal Services Authorities in various tehsils and districts and training of and support to para legal workers
v) Exposure visits by lawyers and law students to areas of social struggles and interaction with the affected communities.
Conducting the Strategy Session, Medha Patkar, on behalf of the NAPM gave a call to lawyers and activists from each state to come together in whatever form and engage with each other in order to address the burning questions raised by people’s struggles. She indicated to the participants that the hundreds of people’s movements across the country are having to engage both with grassroots political action and also with legal action and there is an intense need to streamline both these actions and actors involved. 
Putting forth his suggestions for co-ordinated action, Shri Vinod Patidar on behalf of the Indore Institute of Law, assured the participants and NAPM that his college, faculty and students would certainly participate actively in any collective initiate for social justice and change.  Shri Bhagwan Das Raiyani of the Forum for Fast Justice offered to support the conduct of regional workshops. The participants also volunteered to hold interactive sessions between lawyers and social activists in various states including at the High Court and District Courts in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Gujarat Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi etc.
A resolution was also passed by the Conference in support of the Jal Satyagraha by the Omkareshwar Dam oustees who are protesting the illegal raise in height of the dam, despite the fact that rehabilitation of thousands are pending. The resolution urged the state government not to permit any raise in dam height until lawful rehabilitation is complete.
Co-Organizers
 Indore Institute of Law, Indore &
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)
Contact Persons:   Pramod Bagdi         Partyush Mishra          Vibhor Airen        Shrikanth
                                    09827021000  09425958043             09827305150       09179148973