Centre for Study and Research on Legislative Drafting (CSRLD), under the aegis of Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, KIIT Law School conducted an online Panel Discussion on the “Procedure and Significance of Legislative Drafting in India” on 3rd of April 2022.
Participating in the discussion, Dr. Reeta Vasishta, Legislative Secretary, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India explained the universal drafting principles and the expertise required for drafting, which in itself is an art. She emphasized on self-criticism, scrutiny and the keenness that is necessary for “finesse in drafting”. She also explained the importance of knowing the subject, the general clauses and the uses of precedence in drafting. Dr. Vasishta provided the participants with real life examples and laws to relate to her discussion.
The second speaker, Ms. Aanchal Arya, Lifestyle Columnist, The Times of India underscored the importance of English writing skills for lawyers. She discussed the golden rules of drafting, that is keeping the writing short and to the point, i.e. “simple yet elegant”. She further said that the legal process for lawyers extensively requires English speaking and writing skills, grammar and vocabulary. It also requires obtaining necessary information from the clients and other sources, preparing plaints, petitions, written statements, applications, analyzing clients input to identify the legal issues for the purpose of researching the legal issues.
The session was conducted successfully under the guidance of the Faculty Coordinators, Zeenat Taher and Shashank Nande with the support of Student Conveners of CSRLD, Ms. Aparna Mallik and Mr. Sartak Singh. The moderator of this session was Ms. Gautami Chakravarty. Ms. Shaba Naz, Ms. Ishita Paul and Ms. Mallika Tiwary were the student rapporteurs.