The Valedictory Function of the Justice G.D. Kamat Memorial National Moot Court Competition 2023 was held recently at Panjim Gymkhana.
The function began with a welcome address by Dr. G Shabir Ali (Principal V.M. Salgaocar College of Law) who welcomed the Chief Guest Justice Mahesh Sharadchandra Sonak; Ulhas Kamat, Trustee of G.D. Kamat Charitable trust; Prof Bhaskar Naik, Planning and Governing Council Member of VMSCL, Dr Amod Shirali, Director of the Moot Court Society; Siddhant Shetye, Student Coordinator of VMSCL and other distinguished personalities from the legal field. He also congratulated all the participants for their efforts.
Vice- Chairman and Education Advisor of DSES, VMSCL, Bhaskar Nayak emphasised on the primary responsibility of law institutions to hold Moot Court and ADR competitions.
The moot court was held from 27th to 29th January 2023 and witnessed 26 prestigious law institutions from across the country competing for the top honours.
The competition was judged by advocates and the final round of the competition was judged by the sitting judges of the Bombay High Court, Hon’ble Justice Mahesh S. Sonak, Hon’ble Justice Valmiki Sao Menezes, and Former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Ferdino Inacio Rebello.
The congregation was then addressed by the Chief Guest Justice Mahesh Sharadchandra Sonak, who paid his homage to Late Justice G.D.Kamat. He also talked about the qualities that a law student must inculcate and that moot court competitions served as a stepping stone for that. Justice Sonak also advised law students “To give the law a creative interpretation rather than slavishly adhering to precedents.” This was followed by declaration of the results wherein the Best Researcher award was bagged by Jayditya Mohan from University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab University; The Best Memorial award was won by School of Excellence in Law along with a cash prize of Rs. 15,000/-; and Shrinidhi Joshi from R.V. Institute of Legal Studies, Bengaluru was awarded as the Best Mooter and also awarded a cash prize of Rs.15,000. The runners up were KLE Society’s BCA, Hubballi and were awarded cash prize of Rs. 25,000 along with trophies and merit certificates and the winners of Justice G.D. Kamat Memorial National Moot Court Competition 2023 were National Law Institute University, Bhopal and were awarded cash prize of Rs. 50,000 along with trophies and merit Certificates. The Valedictory function concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Aamod Shirali, Director of the Moot Court Society and faculty co-ordinator of VMSCL.
