Senior Advocate Gourab Banerji has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to endow the Milon K Banerji Centre for Arbitration Law at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad.
The Centre will be chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice (retd) Rohinton Fali Nariman, with Senior Advocate Ritin Rai serving as Co-Chair. Banerji will act as donor and patron.
The Centre’s board will also include NALSAR alumni Dr. Amit George (class of 2009) as Director of Research, and Shreya Parikh (class of 2011) and Chand Chopra (class of 2012) as Associate Directors of Research.
Named in honor of Banerji’s father, the late Milon K Banerji, an eminent jurist who served as Attorney General for India from 1992 to 1996 and 2004 to 2009, the Centre is designed to be a hub for research and teaching in arbitration law. It aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas among legal scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, contributing to the evolution of arbitration practices.
Expressing his satisfaction with the partnership, Banerji said in a press release, “I am particularly pleased that NALSAR and I are partnering to advance the cause of arbitration in academia. Arbitration was my father’s first and enduring passion throughout his days at the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court. In Secretary, Irrigation Department, Government of Orissa and Ors v. GC Roy and Ors, his research unearthed a pivotal judgment from the High Court of Australia (Government Insurance Office of NSW v. Atkinson-Leighton Joint Venture), which persuaded the Court to recognize the arbitrator’s power to award pendente lite interest. This partnership with NALSAR is a fitting tribute to his academic bent of mind and love of research.”
NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao expressed gratitude for Banerji’s grant, stating, “We are grateful to Mr. Gourab Banerji for this grant, which will help establish a Centre that we hope will be at the forefront of arbitration law discussions in the years to come. As I have mentioned before, NALSAR is embarking on a journey with a renewed focus on research and scholarship. This initiative aims to benefit not only our academic community but also the wider legal fraternity nationally and internationally. With the finest minds from the legal field mentoring the Centre, this endeavor represents a significant step in our journey of pedagogic revitalization.”
