RGNUL INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, FEBRUARY, 2013

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MOOT PROBLEM

1. Tyrion Bhushan is an Indian Administrative Services officer of the 1985 batch of the

Punjab Cadre. Tyrion was posted as the Principal Secretary, Department of Hostels in

Universities (DHU). During this period, there were allegations of large scale corruption

in the award of tenders to construct hostels in various universities across Punjab, and it

emerged that a single conglomerate, M/s Berry and Purohit had been appointed as the

contractor for all toilets across all universities in Punjab.

2. Veena Lannister is the Managing Director of M/s Showerwell, a well-known and reputed

manufacturer of Sanitary ware. It was her ambition to have her Company appointed as

the sole equipment supplier for hostel toilets across Punjab. However, not possessing the

wherewithal (read contacts) to go about obtaining such an appointment, Veena decided

to directly have a meeting with Tyrion in this regard.

3. On 02.01.2013, during the course of their meeting, Veena was taken aback by the brazen

demands of Tyrion who promised to make M/s Showerwell the lone equipment supplier

across not just all hostels in Punjab, but also put in a good word for the Company in the

Ministry of Urban Development, to ensure that the Company gets a large number of

contracts. In exchange however, Tyrion sought an amount of Rupees Fifty Lakh within a

period of two days, Rupees One Crore for the first six months after award of the first

contract, and a monthly ‘salary’ of Rupees Two Lakh, by way of a Demand Draft in the

name of his wife’s Company M/s Freehold thereafter.

4. Veena sought some time to get back to Tyrion as to the issues raised by him. Distraught

at the demands of Tyrion, Veena approached Mr. Vishnu Snow, a class-mate of hers

from school, who she thought was a member of the State Police. As it turned out,

Vishnu was a senior officer with the CBI in Delhi now. Upon receipt of such

information from Veena, Vishnu decided to inquire further into the allegations, and not

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register a case (RC) immediately. Vishnu, within a period of three hours of Veena’s

intimation, after making necessary inquiries and having satisfied himself as to there being

some substance in Veena’s story, decided to lay a wire tap on Tyrion.

5. Accordingly, Vishnu, after having completed the necessary formalities under the

Telegraph Act and rules thereunder, within a period of one day, proceeded to tap

Tyrion’s phone. During the course of the said phone taps on the very next day (i.e. on

the day after laying the phone tap), Vishnu had gathered evidence as to requests being

made by Tyrion to third parties also for kickbacks. Vishnu thereafter asked Veena to

telephone Tyrion and ask him to meet her at 8pm that night at 4S Restaurant in Defence

Colony, Patiala, where she would hand over the required “package”.

6. A trap was accordingly laid at 4S restaurant with marked notes, public witnesses and

members of the CBI present at the spot. Veena reached the restaurant at the appointed

time, and after sharing a polite drink with Tyrion, proceeded to hand over the bag

containing the marked notes to Tyrion. Tyrion immediately refused to accept the

package, indicating instead that it be kept under the commode in the toilet of the

restaurant. However, Veena panicked, and insisted that Tyrion take the package

immediately. She then proceeded to throw the package at Tyrion, and made a signal to

the waiting CBI Officers, including Mr. Snow.

7. Tyrion Bhushan was arrested immediately by the CBI officers, and the bag was recovered

from him. Mr. Bhushan pleaded a set-up by Veena Lannister, but the same was to no

avail, and was remanded to Police custody for a period of 6 days, and to judicial custody

for a period of 14 days upon expiry of the said 6 days of Police Custody.

8. Proceedings were initiated against Mr. Bhushan before the Special Judge, CBI, and a

Chargesheet was filed within a period of 9 days of his arrest. As per the Chargesheet, the

CBI stated that Mr. Bhushan was guilty of offences under Section 13(1)(d) r/w Section

13(2) of the PC Act, 1988. Various documents and evidence relied upon by the

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prosecution was also filed along with the Chargesheet. It also emerged that the letter

authorizing the phone tap had been addressed to Vishnu Snow directly from the Home

Ministry.

9. Mr. Bhushan immediately thereafter, through counsel, filed a petition before the High

Court of P&H at Chandigarh under Articles 226, 227 of the Constitution of India r/w

Section 482 CrPC, seeking quashment of the proceedings pending before the Ld. Spl.

Judge, in view of the fact that sanction had not been obtained under Section 6A of the

DSPE Act, 1948. The various issues raised before the HC are:

A. Whether Section 6A was applicable to Mr. Bhushan including whether Mr. Bhushan, an

IAS Officer of the Punjab Cadre, was an employee of the Central Government?

B. Whether Mr. Bhushan’s arrest could be classified as an “arrest on the spot”?

C. Whether the telephone tap on Mr. Bhushan was valid, and whether the same was in

violation of his constitutional right to privacy?

Notes:

1. This problem has been drafted by Mr. Adit Subramaniam Pujari,

Advocate, High Court of Delhi and Supreme Court of India and

former Associate, Amarchand & Mangaldas Suresh A. Shroff & Co.,

Delhi.

2. Any attempt by any participant to contact the above mentioned for

assistance with respect to this problem shall result in their immediate

disqualification from the intra moot court competition.

RULES OF THE INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, FEBRUARY, 2013

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1. ELIGIBILITY FOR PARTICIPATION

1.1. Date of Competition

23rd February, 2013

1.2. Last date for registration: the interested teams must submit their registration confirmation on

rgnul.mcc@gmail.com by 9th February, 2013. Allotment of the sides will be given only after

the team has registered itself.

2. COMPOSITION OF THE TEAM

2.1. Each team shall consist of a minimum number of two (2) speakers and maximum of two (2)

speakers and one (1) researcher.

2.2. The teams may alter their speakers and researchers with prior information to the RMCC.

2.3. A team may have more than three (3) members subject to a declaration/undertaking

specifying which member(s) of the team are to be dropped if that particular team is allotted a

moot which requires lesser number of members in a team than there are members in that

team.

3. MEMORIAL SUBMISSION

3.1. Each team shall submit memorial /written submission for one side which would be allotted

after the registration.

3.2. Each team shall submit the printed memorials containing the following number of pages per

item/head mentioned in brackets:

3.2.1. Cover page(1)

3.2.2. Table of Contents(No limit)

3.2.3. List of Abbreviation(No limit)

3.2.4. Index of Authorities(No limit)

3.2.5. Statement of Jurisdiction(1)

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3.2.6. Statement of Facts(Not more than 3 pages)

3.2.7. Issues Raised(Not more than 1 page)

3.2.8. Summary of Arguments(Not more than 3 pages)

3.2.9. Body of Arguments(Not more than 18 pages)

3.2.10. Relief/Prayer(1)

The above page limits are inclusive of footnotes.

3.3. The memorial shall be printed on both sides of an A4 size white paper with proper page

numbering and must adhere to the following specifications:

Text Footnotes

Font: Times New Roman/Garamond Font: Times New Roman/Garamond

Font Size: 12 Font Size: 10

Line Spacing: 1.5 Line Spacing: 1

3.4. The Harvard Blue Book Style of footnoting must be followed as far as practicable, failing

which a uniform system of citation must be followed.

3.5. The memorials should contain the Team Code on the Cover Page and should not contain

any other kind of identification; if any identification is found then the team shall be

disqualified.

3.6. The petitioner memorials must have light blue paper covers while the respondent must have

light red.

3.7. Environment friendly practices including the use of environment friendly paper is

encouraged.

4. MARKING CRITERIA FOR THE MEMORIALS

4.1. The marking criteria for the memorials shall be as provided herein under:

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SR.NO MARKING CRITERIA MARKS ALLOTTED

1. Evidence of Original Thought 10

2. Knowledge of Law and Facts 25

3. Proper and Articulate Analysis 20

4. Clarity and Organisation 10

5. Grammar and Style 10

6. Correct format and citation 10

7. Extent and Use of Research 15

Total 100

5. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

5.1. Soft copies of the memorials must be sent in either doc, docx (2007), rtf or pdf formats via

e-mail to the committee on rgnul.mcc@gmail.com by 12:00 pm on 22nd February, 2013.

5.2. Three hard copies of the memorial must be submitted till 5:00 pm on 22nd February, 2013.

There must be no difference between the soft copy and the hard copies i.e., the hard copies

must be the exact print out of the soft copy.

6. EXCHANGE OF MEMORIALS

6.1. The exchange of memorials shall be conducted 5:00 pm onwards on 22nd February, 2013 at

the venue to be specified later.

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7. ORAL SUBMISSION AND TIMING SLOT: PARAMETERS

7.1. Each team shall get a total of 30 minutes to present their case. The time shall include rebuttal

and sur-rebuttal time.

7.2. The division of time per speaker is left to the discretion of the team subject to a minimum of

10 minutes per speaker.

7.3. Any extension of the prescribed time limit shall be at sole discretion of the judges and no

complaints/appeals regarding the same shall be entered.

8. MARKING CRITERIA FOR THE ARGUMENTS

8.1. So as to ensure uniformity in the marking system all the judges will be provided with a marking

guideline.

8.2. Each speaker shall be marked out of 100. The team score shall be the total marks awarded to

both speakers along with the marks awarded to the Memorials presented by them. The

decision of the judges shall be final and binding.

8.3. The following will be the marking criteria and the marks allotted to each speaker:

SR.NO MAKING CRITERIA MARKS ALLOTTED

1. Knowledge of Law 20

2. Application of law and facts 20

3. Ingenuity and Ability to answer questions 20

4. Style, Poise, Courtesy, Demeanour 15

5. Organisation and Flow of Arguments 15

6. Reference to Memorials 10

RULES OF THE INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION, FEBRUARY, 2013

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Total 100

9. RULES FOR QUALIFICATION IN INTRA MOOT COURT COMPETITION

9.1. The minimum criteria to qualify for intra moot court competition shall be 50% i.e., 50%

marks in memorial and 50% marks in oral rounds including both the speakers.

10. PENALTIES

10.1. Memorial Penalties

SUMMARY PENALTY

Tardiness in submitting hard copies - 2 per hour

Exceeding prescribed page limit - 2 per page

Tardiness in submitting soft copies - 2 per hour

11. MISCELLANEOUS

11.1. No members of any team will be permitted to hear, or attempt to hear, the arguments

in any court room if they still have pending rounds, i.e. whilst that team is still in competition

(Scouting).

11.2. If any team is apprehended in the act of scouting, it shall result in immediate

disqualification

11.3. Any query regarding moot proposition and registration etc. can be referred clarified at

rgnul.mcc@gmail.com.

11.4. Queries shall be entertained till three days before the deadline for the submission of

soft copies of the memorials; following such date, no queries shall be entertained.

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12. RULES FOR SELECTION

12.1. Only students who have participated and qualified in the intra moot court competition

shall be allowed to represent the University in Moot Court Competitions.

12.2. Selection and Allotment of moots shall be in accordance with the Moot Court

Allotment Rules, 2012 (available on the intranet).

12.3. A qualified team may only change its team composition with a valid reason to do so.

However under no circumstances can it include a student who has not participated in the

latest intra as a member.

13. RULES FOR TEAMS REPRESENTING RGNUL

13.1. Each team who is representing RGNUL for any national or International Moot will

submit soft copies of the memorials from both the sides 4 days before leaving for the

competition.

13.2. Each team who is representing the university in national or international moot will

submit the soft copies or hard copies of their respective memorials and compendiums if any,

to the moot court committee at rgnul.mcc@gmail.com.

13.3. The request for the said sessions shall be communicated to the Moot Committee and

even if the team arranges the sessions on its own with a particular senior/ teacher, the team

must inform the committee about the same.

13.4. Strict disciplinary action, including bans and fines, shall be taken against any student

who participates in any Moot Court Competition without participating in the latest intra.