Professor Faizan Mustafa who is presently the Vice
Chancellor of Nalsar Law University Hyderabad got this year’s prestigious
SAARC’s Best Law Teacher Award. In a unanimous decision, the high-powered jury
consisting of Professor NR Madhav Menon, eminent jurist and Founder Vice
Chancellor of NLSIU, Bangalore and Mr Lalit Bhasin, President of Indian Law
Firms, announced the conferment of the award on Professor Mustafa.
The award, which carries Rs 1 Lakh cash, citation
and a plaque, would be given on 6th September at Delhi by the Union Law
Minister in the presence of eminent professors of law, judges and eminent
lawyers like Ram Jethmalani and Fali Nariman. Earlier awardees include leading
jurists such as Padamshree NR Madava Menon, Professor Ranbir Singh, Professor
GV Ajjappa, Professor VS Mani, Professor Laxminath and Professor Mizanur Rehman
of Dhaka University, Bangladesh. This is a known fact that the Professor
Mustafa is a widely acclaimed scholar and commands great respect among his students
like me. He introduced several courses such as Intellectual Property Rights,
International Human Rights Law and Tourism Laws at AMU. I was the first person
to opt the newly introduced course on Intellectual Property at AMU in 1997. He
taught so well that created immense interest in the subject and ultimately IPR
became my career option.
At NALSAR he designed and taught new courses
like Diversity Management Law, Comparative Strict Liability Law,
Multiculturalism and Minority Rights etc. He is the only academic who has been
nominated as member of National Legal Services Authority, which is headed by
the Chief Justice of India. He is a member at Executive Councils, Academic
Councils and General Councils of various universities and has been on various
committees responsible for searching new Vice Chancellors.
Prof. Faizan Mustafa started his career at Aligarh
Muslim University in early 1990. As a LLM gold medallist, he served the
university in various capacities like, Professor of Law, Dean Faculty of Law
and Registrar. He was also engaged in various International activities like the
drafting of Eritrean Constitution Professor of Law in Ethiopia and advisor in UAE.
In Ethiopia, he was exposed to the civil law tradition, was required to teach
High Court Judges and work under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister.
The country had got a new constitution and he was the only Professor of
constitutional law in the entire country. In UAE, he had the opportunity to
found a business school and introduce the BBA-LL.B course.
I also have a privilege to work in close
association with him in the foundation stages of KIIT Law School and National
Law University, Orissa. At both places I worked with him in designing the
curricula to promote integration of knowledge as he firmly believes that
knowledge is at the intersections of disciplines.
Currently he is serving as the Vice-Chancellor of
NALSAR University of Law and very active in writing newspaper articles and
books. He has already written eight
books and around 120 scholarly articles some of which have been relied upon by
the apex court. He believe that institution building activity is a cooperative
venture and try to do his share as the Chief Justice of India’s and
Chancellor's nominee to the Academic, Executive and General Councils of several
institutions along with serving on various Search Committees for the
appointment of Vice-Chancellors.
Law for him is an instrument of social change thus
as the Senior Vice-Chairperson of Rural Litigation & Entitlement Kendra,
Dehra Dun. He supported the filing of the country’ first environmental and
ecology related PIL in the lime stone mining matter. RLEK also got voting rights
for the indigenous people of Shivalik Hills i.e. Van Gujjars. He also got 19000
laborers accepted as bonded laborers by the Government and secured their
release.
Nothing interests him more than cooking. I am also privileged
to eat the famous dish the Akhni Pulao prepared by him. He enjoys teaching and has
great passion for debating. He also represented India in various debates during
his student life at AMU Aligarh.
His achievements are great motivation and a matter
of proud for all of us and hope if we can inculcate some of his excellent
skills in our personality.
