The Centre for Constitutional Law Studies (CCLS) aims to become a destination for scholars and public intellectuals from a variety of regional and disciplinary bases (CCLS@JGLS). CCLS is dedicated to leading research in persistent and contemporary issues in public law, with a particular focus on constitutional and administrative law, and political and legal theory.
The Centre seeks to initiate a dialogue and develop expertise in using different methodologies and interdisciplinary skills (from academic areas such as political philosophy, history, and economics) to improve the quality of research output when undertaking comparative or empirical analysis of public law issues. To this end, the Centre specifically wishes to establish collaborations with other academic institutions; and scholars working in these fields, as well as with members of government; policy-makers; legal professionals and non-governmental organisations, both locally and globally.
Organising conferences, panel discussions and guest lectures: related to and engaging with emerging doctrinal public law issues; projects for constitutional theory building and developing methodological rigour; and explorations into interdisciplinary approaches to public law questions in areas such as constitutional history; judicial reasoning; and empirical judicial studies;
Providing a forum for external scholars , both local and global, to present and develop their research and scholarship on issues of mutual interest, in order for the Jindal Law School community to benefit from and engage with ongoing debates and dialogue on innovative approaches to contemporary issues in public law and theory;
Providing a forum for Jindal faculty and students to present and develop works-in-progress, which can draw on interdisciplinary insights and are theoretically rigorous — and which can help to focus international attention on Indian Constitutional Law scholarship;
Developing a specialized comparative research hub/cluster: such a cluster can focus on issues of South Asian constitutionalism or more broadly, on issues on “constitutionalism of the global south.”
Bringing out a Policy Paper series: to explore policy implications of various constitutional doctrines; case law and issues such as the special status of Kashmir and its subsequent abrogation; the judicial selection process; intersection of gender justice and public law, South Asian constitutionalism; migration of constitutional ideas.
Professor, JGLS, Director, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Associate Directors, JGLS, Assistant Director, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Associate Professor, JGLS, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Associate Professor, JGLS, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Assistant Professor, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Assistant Professor, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Lecturer, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Lecturer, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Lecturer, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Lecturer, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Assistant Professor, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Lecturer, JGLS, Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies
Paper Presentation, Dr. Rawin Leelapatana, ‘The Monarchy-led Urban Development: Lessons from Bangkok’s Planning Regime’ (Oxғᴏʀᴅ Uɴɪᴠᴇʀsɪᴛʏ Pʀᴇss, (2024) 11(3) The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 1-29). Discussants: Professor (Dr.) Sarbani Sen, Professor & Director, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies, JGLS, Professor Anshuman Shukla, Associate Professor, JGLS, Professor (Dr.) Arpan Acharya, Assistant Professor, JGLS. (February 2025)
Paper Discussion, Prof. Rupavardhini Balakrishnan Raju, Lecturer in Administrative Law at Trinity College University of Oxford, "Language Status in Constitutional Design: Framework and Terminology", Discussants: Prof. (Dr.) Sarbani Sen, Professor & Director, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies, JGLS, Prof. (Dr.) Alexander Fischer, Adjunct Professor, Shiv Nadar University, Chennai and Moderated by Prof. Ishan Vijay Avadhanam, Lecturer and Research Fellow, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies, JGLS. (April 2025)
Hosted a paper discussion on "Evictions, meaningful engagement, and the right to housing in India: two roads". The paper is authored and was presented by Rishika Sahgal, Rhodes Scholar and Assistant Professor in Law, Birmingham Law School, UK. Prof. Anshuman Shukla and Prof. Sahibnoor Sing served as discussants. The session was moderated by Prof. Sarbani Sen. (November, 2025)
Commenced a series on Citizenship and the Constitution, wherein the first session on “Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the Basic Structure Challenge was led by Prof. Anujay Shrivastava., Research Fellow, CCLS. Prof. (Dr.) Sarbani Sen, Professor, JGLS and Director, CCLS, and Mr. Jaideep Singh Lalli, Singhvi-Trinity Scholar & Ph.D. in Law Candidate at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and External Member, CCLS served as discussants. The session was moderated by Prof. Nidhi Sharma, Assistant Director, CCLS (November, 2025).
Hosted Panel Discussion on “The Centrality of the Right Against Discrimination to India's Story” in collaboration with Mr. Lalit Panda, Senior Resident Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy March 24
Hosted a Panel Discussion on “The Role Of Political Parties In Indian Democracy”.The Speakers for the session are Ms. Ritwika Sharma Senior Resident Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and Lead, Charkha, Vidhi’s Constitutional Law Centre and Ms. Mayuri Gupta, Milon K Banerji Research Fellow at Charkha, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.August 2024
Conducted a Blog Writing Workshop for JGLS Students to provide a platform to hone their legal writing and research skills by Kieran Correa under the supervision of Prof. Nidhi Sharma and Ms. Nayonika Sen.September 2024
Hosted a Panel Discussion in collaboration with Constitutional Law Research Cluster, JGLS on “Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism in India and South Africa” by Prof. (Dr.) Theunis Roux. Prof. (Dr.) Sarbani Sen (Director, CCLS) and Prof. (Dr.) Matthew John (Coordinator, Constitutional Law Research Cluster) acted as discussants. The discussion was moderated by Prof. Anmol Jain.October 2024
The CCLS Team contributed to the three-day National Convention on the Constitution of India, 2024 organised by JGU Vice Chancellor’s Office (November 2024):
Two Day (in-person) Seminar on various themes of Constitutionalism with Prof. (Dr.) Philipp Dann, Professor of Public and Comparative Law, Humboldt University, Berlin,
Prof. Sarbani Sen presented a paper online titled “The Struggle of Constitutional Amendments in India in Oxford University” at a workshop organized by the Oxford University titled Asian Comparative Constitutional Law: Volume II - Constitutional Amendments February, 2023
The Centre organised a panel discussion on the university campus on the topic “Exploring Pendency in Lower Courts using Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence”, wherein the researchers employed BDA and AI models on a data set that comprises 79 million cases that were filed before lower courts between 2010 and 2018 to identify key factors that contribute to delay and pendency in lower courts.
The presenters were Prof. (Dr.) Mohit Bhatnagar, Associate Professor (JGBS) and Prof. (Dr.) Shivaraj Huchhanavar, Assistant Professor (JGLS) and the discussants for the event were the members of CCLS- Prof. Sarbani Sen, Prof. Nidhi Sharma, Prof. Suprita Acharya, and Prof. Sahibnoor Singh Sidhu.
A Constitutional Law Student Symposium (Fall 2023) was organised by the Centre in the Big Bang Conference Room with the objective to provide a platform for students, who are working on research papers in the field of constitutional law, to present their ideas and thoughts and to develop them further through constructive feedback and academic contributions from faculty members of JGLS
Book Discussion was organised by Prof. Mathew John’s book on India’s Communal Constitution – Law, Religion, and the Making of a People. Set against the overwhelmingly liberal design of the Indian Constitution, the book speaks to the debates on law, constitution, and the contested terrain of political identity in modern India.
A Distinguished Guest Lecture was delivered by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Aniruddha Bose, Judge, Supreme Court of India on “Constitutionalism in the Contemporary World”. The lecture was delivered by Justice Bose on the university campus and focused on the intersectionality of constitutionalism and democracy, especially in jurisdictions without a written constitution.
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SCOPUS Publications:
Internship applications must be addressed to ccls@jgu.edu.in, cc’ing Prof. Sarbani Sen (sarbani.sen@jgu.edu.in) and Prof. Nidhi Sharma (nidhi@jgu.edu.in).
All other communication should be addressed to ccls@jgu.edu.in, cc’ing Professor Sarbani Sen (ssen@jgu.edu.in).