IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SINDHUSTHAN AT DHEERPUR

APPEAL NO. 0707 OF 2012 UNDER APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF SINDHUSTHAN

NATIONAL LAWYERS SYMPOSIUM INTELLECTUALS UNITED (NLSIU)

APPELLANT

V.

MR. CORRUPT MEDIAWALA

RESPONDENT NO. 1

NOT ADMITTED TO LAWYERS SYMPOSIUM ALL REJECTED (NALSAR) RESPONDENT NO. 2

_____________________________________

The Republic of Sindhusthan is a developing country, which has gained independence from its colonial masters only a few decades ago. It is in the process of recovering from the years of exploitation it faced. The founders of this new nation had envisaged a country with a robust, effective and fair legal system built on the foundations of rule of law, justice & equality. Due to the guiding presence of legal luminaries such as N. Viranjan, Shan the Man, Nani Champ-wala, Adhash Saxington etc, it soon developed a system of law based that on English common law that could claim to embody all these virtues.

Naturally, this system was continually complemented by the presence of some brilliant legal minds through the years the products of a phenomenal legal education system that had been setup in the country. At the root of this system lay the revolutionary organization, National Lawyers Symposium Intellectuals United (NLSIU), which had pioneered new methods

Shwetank Ginodia (Vth Year)

and systems of educating lawyers. It served as the focal point for the sharpest young men and women of the country to hone their skills and exchange ideas about the law. Indeed, the ground-breaking work of the NLSIU inspired many other similar organizations, though none have achieved a similar level of sustained success.

The NLSIU is renowned for its notoriously tough entrance requirements, which ensure that only the very best scholars gain access to its vast resources and novel methods. There has always been intense competition for the limited seats available, and candidates often spend months preparing hard for the annual entrance examination. Failure was understandably hard to swallow for those unfortunate persons who did not make the cut. Often, they harbored illwill against the NLSIU, and constantly complained of perceived injustices that prevented their own admission into this elite institution. Some such disheartened and frustrated souls came together to form a registered society called Not Admitted to Lawyers Symposium All Rejected (the NALSAR). They would organize support sessions for each other and share stories of their own ill-fated attempts at entering the hallowed portals of NLSIU. Driven by the memories of their failure, they would set up protests outside the NLSIU campus on momentous occasions such as the orientation day for freshers, graduation ceremonies etc.

The 2012 entrance exam was extremely competitive, and as usual, was attempted by thousands of aspiring candidates. However, certain elements of the question paper came under fire from candidates for having departed from the customary format that had been followed earlier. Before long, some candidates brought a Pointless & Irritating Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court of Sindhusthan challenging this process. However, the merits of the PIL are not relevant to the instant case as it remains pending to be heard, and hence, the matter is sub judice. As a result of this controversy, there was substantial increase in the ranks of NALSAR, with several dissatisfied students signing up to express their discontent. The leaders of NALSAR saw this as an opportunity to cash in on the publicity offered and further their agenda of discrediting NLSIU. They also realized that their hitherto followed approach of simple protests was inadequate to attract sufficient attention, and that they needed professional help in this regard.

They approached a PR guru, Mr. Corrupt Mediawala, who was formerly the head of a large PR firm, but had been sacked because of his somewhat questionable business (mal)practices. These days, Mr. Mediawala was unemployed, and sat at home plotting to bring down those Shwetank Ginodia (Vth Year) 2

responsible for exposing him and causing his dismissal. When approached by NALSAR, he immediately indicated his willingness to help, particularly as members of the NLSIU had played prominent part in bringing about his downfall. Soon, he got to work under the direction of the NALSAR leaders, and rather mysteriously, stories of NLSIUs terrible student culture and apparent fall in academic standards started to appear in the media.

Shaken by this sudden change in the Outlook of the media, the administrators of NLSIU decided to embark upon an ambitious project of expansion and infrastructure development. In order to further enhance the public image of NLSIU, they decided to organize an extravagant freshers orientation function to showcase NLSIU to new entrants. As part of the plan they invited several stalwarts, both past and present, such as Paddington Bhat, K.V. Ramprasad, Varunama ShriKumar, Raging Yadava, Sharada Bunny, Ash V. Abmast, Radical Chitty, V. Asha Truegod etc. To accommodate their esteemed guests in the lap of luxury, they booked the swanky new BAD Resort & SPA. Elaborate security arrangements were made by employing private security agencies such as the Seriously Deranged Gestapo-esque Mafia (SDGM), and the Discreet, Insidious & Secretive Covert Operations team (DISCO) to ensure a smooth and trouble-free event.

At the same time, NALSAR saw it as the perfect opportunity to gain more media mileage for their campaign, and directed Mr. Mediawala to spearhead their efforts. However, they instructed him to ensure that the protests were peaceful and did not promote any harm to person or property. Mr. Mediawala set about organizing a massive protest outside the NLSIU campus to coincide with the event. He worked with great vigour, motivated even more by his own past brushes with NLSIU members. To highlight the complaints of NALSAR, he decided to create an enormous hoarding that listed these in conspicuous lettering with an arrow pointing towards the NLSIU. Since this hoarding was of such unusually large proportions, he was unable to find conventional supports for it. Ultimately, he had to prop it up rather precariously by tying it to a tree just outside the NLSIU campus wall.

On the day of the event, NALSAR members turned up in strong numbers to attend the protest, now named Occupy NLSIU. However, all did not go to plan for them, as the area began to experience heavy rain accompanied by strong winds an unprecedented phenomenon at that time of the year. The rain caused the soil surrounding the tree to erode, and the winds began to get caught in the enormous hoarding. Soon, the weight of the Shwetank Ginodia (Vth Year) 3

hoarding and the force of the winds began to tilt it one side. Finally, the tree could no longer bear the weight, and with a huge creak came uprooted from the soil. The hoarding crashed to the ground, narrowly missing the protestors standing nearby. It did however, fall right onto the NLSIU campus, destroying a substantial part of the boundary wall. The impact of the crash sent tremors through the immediate area, and this caused a part of a new library building which was still under construction to collapse, perhaps due to its poor construction quality. Though all the guests were unharmed, the event had to be cancelled due to the ensuing rubble and debris.

NLSIU filed a civil suit for damages before the High Court (having original civil jurisdiction) alleging that Mr. Mediawala had acted negligently, and moreover, that NALSAR was vicariously liable for his acts. In his pleadings, Mr. Mediawala denied that he had been negligent in the circumstances, and argued that the damage to the building was too remote to be actionable in any case. NALSAR, on the other hand, argued that Mr. Mediawala was not its servant, and that in any event, he was not acting within the scope of employment.

The High Court decided all issues in favour of the respondents, and NLSIU has preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court of Sindhusthan at Dheerpur. The matter is to be heard before a 3 judge bench, and each party has employed eminent Counsel to argue their case. Counsel are advised that no pleading of contributory negligence is being entertained by the Court.

_____________________________________

All characters, institutions/organizations and events in this moot problem are entirely fictional, and any resemblance thereof to any person, institution or event is purely co-incidental. No animals and/or first years were harmed in the making of this moot problem.

Shwetank Ginodia (Vth Year)