The Tamil Nadu government on Friday informed the Madras High Court of having asked Chennai Collector to ascertain the availability of government land within the city limits for relocating the Chennai Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, now functioning from two campuses in Pattarai Perambudur in Tiruvallur district and Pudupakkam in Chengalpattu district.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad, State Government Pleader A. Edwin Prabhakar said, the Revenue Department had written to the Collector on April 3 and sought information about the availability of a suitable land within the city limits for relocating the college back to the city.
The submission was made following an order passed by a Bench comprising the Chief Justice and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy on March 23, directing the SGP to take instructions from the government on finding a suitable place in Chennai city itself for the government law college. The order was passed after advocate N.G.R. Prasad insisted on relocating the college to the city.
The advocate brought to the notice of the Bench that the government institution, known earlier as Madras Law College, had been functioning from a heritage building, right next to the High Court campus located in the heart of Chennai city, since 1891. However, the building suffered damages in 2015 due to Chennai Metro Rail work and was declared unsafe until the repairs could be carried out.
Therefore, in 2018, the then government bifurcated the college and shifted it to two newly-constructed campuses in Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu districts. Since then, the students had been complaining about the long distance that they had to travel to reach the campuses situated in neighbouring districts and the academic loss that they had to incur due to their inability to attend court hearings, Mr. Prasad said.
Finding force in his submissions, the Bench wrote: ‘The fact remains that Chennai Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College has been shifted to Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts. Though the college is known as ‘Chennai Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College,’ the same is not situated in Chennai any more. We expect the government to find a suitable place in Chennai city for the government law college.”
They went on to state: ‘The students would be at disadvantage, if they are to travel to neighbouring districts from the city. The students would not have the benefit of the High Court situated in the city. Likewise, the benefit of doing internship, benefit of senior advocates’ lectures and many such benefits are also denied now.”
