PhD in Legal Studies

The Research Programme includes pedagogy related to contemporary concerns in international law with a commitment to capacity building within the South Asian region by exploring a South Asian perspective on emerging issues in international law – human rights issues, concerns within economic law and transnational commerce, to name a few.

Minimum Eligibility

12 years of schooling + a 5-year integrated BA/BBA/BSc/ LLB programme or 4-year law degree or a 2 or 3-year Bachelors degree followed by a 3-year LLB programme + a 2-year/1 year LLM programme from an institution recognized by the government of any of the SAARC countries, with a minimum of 50% marks in the aggregate or an equivalent grade.

Those who have an LLB degree followed by a one-year LLM degree must have a minimum of 60% marks to be eligible to apply.

Admission Procedure

Through an Entrance Test followed by an Interview. The candidates will be shortlisted for the interview on the basis of their performance in the Entrance Test. The minimum marks required to clear the Entrance Test will be 50%. Those shortlisted for the interview, will have to submit a written research proposal, two letters of recommendations and a statement of purpose. The final merit list will be prepared by totalling the marks obtained in the Entrance Test and in the Interview. A minimum of 50% marks will have to be secured separately, in both the Entrance Test and the Interview, in order to be considered for admission.

Research Proposal: Applicants are also required to submit a short research proposal of not more than 1500 words clearly indicating a research problem along with the methodology they propose to employ. It should also indicate the candidate’s understanding of the literature in the field and the relevance of the topic of research in the context of South Asia.

Letters of Recommendation (2): Shortlisted candidates must arrange to send two letters of recommendation from teachers who have taught and assessed them at the graduate/postgraduate level which should testify to the intellectual acumen of the candidates, their knowledge of the subject, their ability to articulate ideas and their sincerity and commitment towards their studies as evident from their consistently good academic performance. Please note that if the letters of recommendation are not received by the University by the specified date, the candidate’s eligibility to proceed further will be curtailed.

Statement of Purpose: Candidates must also provide a statement of purpose stating why they were motivated to undertake the proposed research, and why it should be undertaken. They should highlight the personal and subjective considerations that may have led to the conceptualization of the proposed research so that the selection panel can understand the approach the candidate is proposing and his/her background.

Format of the Entrance Test

The duration of the Entrance Test will be of 2 hours
The question paper will consist of 70 multiple choice questions at the LLM level .
There will be no negative marking.
The areas from which questions may be asked will include the following:
- Research Methods
- Comparative Constitutional Law of the SAARC Nations
- Public International Law: Sources of International Law, Relation of International Law and Municipal Law
- Principal of International Law, State Responsibility.
- The Law of International Organisations.
- International Trade Law: World Trade Organization (WTO) and its covered agreements
- International Humanitarian Law: Geneva Conventions.
- Intellectual Property Rights: Patents; Copyright; Trademarks and Related Rights.
- Jurisprudence: Sources of Law; Legal Personality; Analytical Jurisprudence; Sociological School of Law and Rule of Law.
- International Environmental Law: Sustainable development, precautionary principal, common but differentiated responsibility, contemporary developments.
- International Human Rights Law: Civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, current developments.