3rd Birla School of Law National Moot Court Competition 2026, Bhubaneswar [Hybrid; 9-10 and 24 October 2026; Prizes worth Rs 55,000; Register by 30 September]

Birla School of Law, Birla Global University, Bhubaneswar, is holding the 3rd edition of its national level Moot Court Competition, conducted in honour of the university's founders, the late B.K. Birla and the late Sarala Birla. The competition runs in a hybrid format: the preliminary and quarter-final rounds are held online on 9 and 10 October 2026, and the semi-final and final rounds are held offline on the university campus in Bhubaneswar on 24 October 2026.

Birla Global University is a private university established under the Birla Global University Odisha Act, 2015, on a 30-acre campus at Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar. Birla School of Law was established in 2018.

The proposition is a commercial contract dispute set in the fictional Republic of Aryavarta, whose laws are to be treated as pari materia with the corresponding laws of India. A snack-food manufacturer sues its exclusive starch supplier before the Commercial Division of the High Court of Aryavarta after a pollution-control shutdown delays deliveries. The court has framed three issues:

• Whether the supplier can rely on the force majeure clause, given the timing of its notice and its duty to mitigate.
• Whether the liquidated damages clause is a genuine pre-estimate or a penalty, so that only reasonable compensation is payable under Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
• Whether the post-termination restriction is void as a restraint of trade under Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and whether an injunction or damages should follow.

The full proposition and its annexures are in the brochure.

• Open to students of three-year and five-year integrated law degree courses from any university, law school, college or department.
• Multiple teams may participate from the same institution.
• Each team must have exactly three members: two speakers and one researcher.
• A change in team members must be requested in writing to the Dean, Birla School of Law, by the Vice-Chancellor, Dean, Director or Head of the participating institution, and is allowed only once. No change is permitted after the competition begins.

• Preliminary rounds (online, 9 October 2026): each team argues twice, once for each side. Scores combine memorial and oral marks from both rounds.
• Quarter-finals (online, 10 October 2026): the top eight teams advance; results are based on combined oral and memorial scores.
• Researcher's Test: afternoon of 10 October 2026.
• Semi-finals and final (offline, 24 October 2026): the top four teams argue on campus in Bhubaneswar. The final is decided on oral scores.
• Time per team: 20 minutes in the preliminaries, 30 minutes in the quarter-finals, 45 minutes in the semi-finals and 60 minutes in the final, including rebuttal and sur-rebuttal. Each speaker must speak for at least 8 minutes.
• Ties are broken by the best speaker's oral score, then by the memorial score.

• Memorials for both sides must be emailed as PDFs to bsolmcc@bgu.ac.in by 23:59 on 5 October 2026, named with the side and team code (for example P100 and R100).
• Required sections, in order: Cover Page, Table of Contents, List of Abbreviations, Index of Authorities, Statement of Jurisdiction, Statement of Facts, Statement of Issues, Summary of Arguments, Arguments Advanced and Prayer. Each missing section costs two marks.
• Times New Roman 12 pt with 1.5 line spacing; footnotes in Times New Roman 10 pt with single spacing; one-inch margins; page numbers at the bottom centre. No speaking footnotes, and one uniform citation style throughout.
• Arguments Advanced must not exceed 25 pages, and the whole memorial must not exceed 40 pages including the cover.
• The institution's identity must not appear anywhere on the memorial.
• Semi-finalists must bring four hard copies of both memorials on 24 October 2026, with blue covers for the Petitioner and red covers for the Respondent.

The registration fee is Rs 2,000 per team. It is non-refundable and is paid by the QR code or bank transfer details given at the end of the brochure.

To register, email a scanned copy of the filled Annexure-A (Registration Form) and a screenshot of the payment receipt to bsolmcc@bgu.ac.in by 30 September 2026. This gives the team a provisional registration. Team codes will be sent by email by 2 October 2026 and must be used in all later correspondence.

Teams reaching the semi-finals and final can book accommodation for 24 October 2026 by paying an extra Rs 2,000 per team and emailing the receipt, along with a soft copy of Annexure-B (Travel Details Form), to bsolmcc@bgu.ac.in by 18 October 2026. Teams must arrange their own travel to and from the airport, railway station or bus terminal. For teams staying in the organiser's accommodation, the organisers will provide transport between the accommodation and the venue.

• Questions about the moot problem must be emailed to bsolmcc@bgu.ac.in by 3 October 2026. A consolidated response will be sent to all teams on 4 October 2026. Questions sent any other way will not be answered.
• Speakers must not state their names during oral rounds, and teams must not reveal their institution at any stage. Doing so leads to disqualification.
• The dress code is Western formals (white shirt, black trousers or skirt, black blazer, and a black tie for men) or Indian formals for women (white kurta, black salwar, black dupatta and black blazer). Robes and collar bands are not allowed.
• The judges' decisions are final, and the Chairman of the Organising Committee decides any dispute.