An institution that boasts of rich alumni and faculty

Visakhapatnam: The specially-designed logo 'Dharmo rakshati rakshitaha' with the iconic symbol of justice, a sword, an image of Kamadhenu and the varsity's emblem have been thoughtfully designed in a single frame exclusively for Dr BR Ambedkar College of Law, Andhra University.

Just above the logo, an impressive bust of Rabindranath Tagore catches the eye. Nearly eight decades ago, the campus attracted Tagore's attention as well when he made his maiden visit.

The staircase leads to room no: 28, a classroom that has an old-world charm where many prominent personalities flip through the nostalgic chapters of their glorious academic life, including M Venkaiah Naidu and Jasti Chalemeswar.

In one of the corridors, room no: 27 was said to be where Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan used to work when he was heading Andhra University as its Vice-Chancellor. With many such nostalgic moments associated to recall and cherish, Dr BR Ambedkar College of Law, AU braces up for a year-long platinum jubilee celebration.

Established in the year 1945, the College of Law has stood the test of time and produced several eminent personalities who have made a mark in the pages of history. Former Supreme Court judge K Rama Swamy, first woman judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court K Amareswari, former Lok Sabha speaker G M C Balayogi and former chairman of Bar Council of India D V Subba Rao, among several others form a part of its rich alumni.

While the Department of Law came into being in July 1945, the College of Law was launched at Masulipatnam (now Machilipatnam) on August 4 in the same year by former justice P V Rajamannar. The law course had been designed to integrate and impart academic as well as practical lessons to the students. In July, 1949, the college was shifted to the university campus at Waltair.

Though it was a part of AU College of Arts and Commerce, it was reconstituted as a separate College of Law on April 14, 1989 and thus rechristened as Dr BR Ambedkar College of Law.

In addition to its strong alumni, the institution also boasts of its outstanding jurists and legal luminaries such as S Venkataraman, G C V Subba Rao, V. Balasubrahmaniam, among others, who served as faculty members. Senior Professors say that it was the farsightedness of the then founder Vice-Chancellor of the university C.R. Reddy, the foundation for the law college was laid as he envisaged the institution as a centre for comparative and interdisciplinary study of law.

Today, the college has strength of 800-odd students from across the world. "Some of them have come from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and various parts of the country to pursue UG, PG and Ph D courses. At present, courses offered include, LLB three years, five-years BA, LLB integrated course, LLM in two branches – constitutional law and business law.

There is a huge demand for international law branch among foreign students. However, due to staff shortage, we have discontinued it for the time being," says S Sumitra, Principal of the college.

New additions

In the recent past, the college has added new facilities to its campus. Apart from two classrooms, the new seminar hall '19 (1) (a)', epitomising the freedom of speech and expression, is being utilised as a classroom. "Very soon, we are going to launch two smart classrooms for the students," says Prof. Sumitra, going around the smart classrooms that are getting readied.

"Most students who passed out from here have scaled greater heights in their lives. At present, the college has approximately 10 distinguished alumni as sitting judges of AP High Court," says D. Surya Prakash proudly, dean faculty and former Principal of the College of Law.

Senior Professors opine that the college can add new courses to the list if the issue pertaining to severe staff shortage is addressed. According to sources, the last recruitment happened 25 years ago.