The “Remembering S.P. Sathe — 20th National Moot Court Competition 2026” was conducted from 22nd-24th January, 2026 at ILS Law College, Pune in a physical mode. Students enrolled in a full-time bachelor’s law program in any Indian University at the time of the Competition were eligible to compete in the Competition.
For the Memorial Qualifier Round of the Competition, 22 registrations were received from law colleges across India and abroad. Based on the scores received in the Memorial Qualifier Round, all the teams were invited for the Oral Rounds. 2 dummy teams from ILS Law College participated in the competition on request of the Organizing Committee.
The Oral Rounds of the Competition were divided into two Preliminary Rounds, Quarter-final Rounds, Semi-final Rounds, and Final Rounds.
The moot proposition for this edition was drafted by Mr. Nihar Chitre, Advocate Bombay High Court and Mr. Vivek Sharma, Associate Chambers of Mr. Cyrus Ardeshir and research assistance by Mr. Anish Padhye and Ms. Anuradha Lawankar (IV B.A.LL.B students at ILS Law College, Pune). The proposition was based on Constitutional Law in line with the theme for this year i.e. ‘Access to Justice’ with a specific focus on the broader issue of “Housing Discrimination in light with Doctrine of Horizontality.”
This edition of the Competition was conducted in collaboration with the LegaLogic Consulting and The Legal Genuis.AI. We were also joined by SCC Online and SCC Times as our Knowledge and Media Partners.
Organizing Team
Faculty Convenors: Dr. Divya Mittal and Ms. Vindhya Gupta
Student Convenor: Ms. Manaswi Kedar
Student Co-Convenors: Mr. Anish Padhye and Ms. Kashvi Jayasimhan
Student Co-ordinators: Ms. Mahek Saraf, Mr. Arya Mitkari, Ms. Anuradha Lawankar, Mr. Pranit Parmar, Ms. Modini Swarnkar, Ms. Mansi Pathak
I. Inaugural Ceremony, Memo Exchange and Researchers Test
The inaugural ceremony of the Competition was held and was presided over by the following dignitaries:
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Dr. Deepa Paturkar, Principal (Additional Charge), ILS Law College, Pune
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Dr. Divya Mittal, Faculty in-charge, Advocacy Skills Activities, ILS Law College, Pune
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Ms. Vindhya Gupta, Assistant Professor, ILS Law College, Pune
A training session by The Legal Genius.AI was conducted for all the participants to give them a detailed overview of the AI portal and aid them in research over the course of the Competition.
As part of memorial exchange, participants were allotted their sides for the preliminary rounds and were given the memorials of their opposing teams.
II. Preliminary Rounds & Quarter Final Round
A. Preliminary Rounds
The preliminary rounds of the Competition witnessed a diverse array of legal talent and perspectives from the following teams:
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NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad
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Institute of Law, Nirma University
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Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur
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CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Lavasa, Pune
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KLE Law College, Bengaluru
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University Institute of Legal Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh
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National Forensic Sciences University
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Symbiosis Law School, Nagpur , Maharashtra.
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Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
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National Law University Delhi
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Lloyd Law College
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ILS Law College, Pune
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O.P. Jindal Global University
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National Law Institute University, Bhopal
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Maharashtra National Law University, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
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Pavin Gandhi College Of Law
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Tamil Nadu National Law University, Tiruchirappalli
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Christ University, Bengaluru
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Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad
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National University of Advanced Legal Studies
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Symbiosis Law School, Noida
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Symbiosis Law School, Pune
In the preliminary rounds, each team presented arguments once from each of the two sides in two different matches. The 2 preliminary rounds were judged by 24 judges who are experienced legal professionals: Ms. Shubhi Thakur, Mr. Himanshu Saraswat, Ms. Kasturi Pandey, Mr. Darshan Thube, Mr. Tejas Bhonge, Mr. Teajas Chavaan, Ms. Girija Gadgil, Ms. Vidhi Khimavat, Mr. Adinath Kadam, Mr. Harshal Kshirsagar, Mr. Kuber Vaidya, Mr. Siddhant Mishra, Mr. Varad Partani, Mr. Atharva Ghule, Mr. Gaurav Lele, Ms. Renuka Joshi, Ms. Tanvi Mate, Ms. Esha Todkar, Ms. Namrata Chandorkar, Ms. Harshada Shrikhande, Ms Sanghapriya Shere, Ms. Swati Singh, Ms. Aparna Bhide and Ms. Kranti Borse.
B. Quarter-Final Rounds
After the preliminary rounds, the following eight teams proceeded to the quarter-final rounds on the basis of, firstly total wins, and secondly total marks in the preliminary rounds:
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Symbiosis Law School, Noida
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Symbiosis Law School, Pune
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ILS Law College, Pune
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University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh
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Institute of Law Nirma University, Ahmedabad
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National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar
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OP Jindal Global University
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Christ University, Bangalore
The quarter-final rounds were judged by 8 judges in 4 courtrooms: Ms. Maithili Sane, Ms. Chandni Chawla, Mr. Siddharth Chapalgaonkar, Mr. Meer Shais Ali, Ms. Mukta Sathe, Ms. Jeevitha Pillai, Mr. Pratik Tambe and Ms. Ketaki Bapat.
III. Semi-Final Round, Final Round & Valedictory Ceremony
A. Semi-Final Rounds
The following four teams who won in the Quarter-final rounds on a knock-out basis proceeded to the semi-final rounds:
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Symbiosis Law School, Noida
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ILS Law College, Pune
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Symbiosis Law School, Pune
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University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh
The semi-final rounds were judged were 6 judges in 2 courtrooms: Mr. Nihar Chitre, Mr. Sharath Chandran, Mr. Amit Deshpande, Mr. Vivek Sharma, Ms. Neha Sagam and Ms. Rajeeta Sahasrabudhe.
B. Final Rounds
5. The winner from each of the two Courtrooms on a knock-out basis in the semi-final round proceeded to the final round. The final round was conducted between and University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh and Symbiosis Law School, Noida.
The judges of the final round were as follows:
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Hon’ble Mr. Justice N. Satish Kumar, Judge, High Court of Judicature at Madras
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Hon’ble Retd. Justice S.R. Sathye, Empanelled Arbitrator at ILSCA and former Judge, High Court of Judicature at Bombay
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Senior Advocate Nitin Deshpande, Advocate, High Court of Judicature at Bombay
C. Valedictory Ceremony
The final day of the Competition concluded with the Valedictory Ceremony.
The dignitaries for the event were as follows:
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Dr. Deepa Paturkar, Principal (Additional Charge), ILS Law College, Pune
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Hon’ble Mr. Justice N. Satish Kumar, Judge, High Court of Judicature at Madras
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Hon’ble Retd. Justice S.R. Sathye, Empanelled Arbitrator at ILSCA and former Judge, High Court of Judicature at Bombay
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Senior Advocate Nitin Deshpande, Advocate, High Court of Judicature at Bombay
The winners in various categories were felicitated with certificates, trophies and cash prizes:
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Sr. No. |
Award |
Winner |
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Winning Team: Certificates, Trophies and Cash Prize (Rs. 30,000/-) |
Symbiosis Law School, Noida |
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Runners-Up Team: Certificates, Trophies and Cash Prize (Rs. 20,000/-) |
University Institute of Legal Studies, Punjab University, Chandigarh |
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Best Memorial (Petitioner): Certificates, Trophy, Cash Prize (Rs. 3,000/-) |
Symbiosis Law School, Noida |
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Best Memorial (Respondent): Certificates, Trophy, Cash Prize (Rs. 3,000/-) |
Symbiosis Law School, Noida |
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Best Student Counsel of the Competition: Trophy, Certificate, Cash Prize (Rs. 5,000/-) |
Amirul Ansari – (Symbiosis Law School, Noida) |
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Best Speaker of the Final Round: Trophy, Certificates, Cash Prize (Rs. 3,000/-) |
Daksh Kumar Yadav – (Symbiosis Law School, Noida) |
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Best Researcher of the Competition: Trophy, Certificate, Cash Prize (Rs. 5,000/-) |
Sudhanshu Gupta – (ILS Law College, Pune) |
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Justice V. A. Naik Prize for the Best Team from Maharashtra: Trophy, Certificate and Cash Prize (Rs. 5,000/-) |
ILS Law College, Pune |
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