5th P.N. Mathur Memorial National Moot Court Competition 2026

Gautam Buddha University is a State university established under the Uttar Pradesh Gautam Buddha University Act, 2002 (U.P. Act No. 9 of 2002). It is recognised by the University Grants Commission under sections 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act, 1956 and is accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Its fully residential campus of over 511 acres sits beside the Yamuna Expressway at Greater Noida, about 38 kilometres from Delhi, and houses eight schools of learning.

The School of Law, Justice & Governance was established in 2011. The School offers a five-year integrated B.A. LL.B., a one-year LL.M. and a Ph.D. programme, and describes its aim as striking a balance between theoretical knowledge and practical learning through clinical legal education, with students guided into moot court practice, debate, essay writing and project work. The competition is organised by the School’s Moot Court Society.

The School of Law, Justice & Governance is organising the 5th P.N. Mathur Memorial National Moot Court Competition on 31 October and 1 November 2026 on the Gautam Buddha University campus at Greater Noida. Institutions from across India are invited to participate. The organisers state that the event aims to instil confidence and to give students a platform to show their analytical and research skills in a professional and challenging environment.

The competition is held in memory of Shri Prem Narain Mathur (1898 to 1990), an advocate from Nagina in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh who took his B.A. and LL.B. at Canning College, Lucknow. He chose to practise in his own small town rather than move to a larger city, and worked for girls’ education, for co-education at the local Hindu Inter College, and for the resettlement of refugees who reached Nagina after the partition of 1947.

The patron of the competition is Prof. Rana Pratap Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Gautam Buddha University. Dr. K. K. Dwivedi, Dean of the School, and Dr. Satish Chandra, Head of the Department, oversee the event. The faculty convenors are Dr. Mamta Sharma and Dr. Rama Sharma, with Dr. Sagar and Ms. Saumya Baranwal as co-convenors. The advisory committee includes Justice (Retd.) Vinay Kumar Mathur, Dr. Anant Vijay Maria (Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India) and Mr. Sushil Kumar Dubey (Advocate, Supreme Court of India).

The released proposition is Helena Kyria & Ors. v. State of Arcadia & Ors., set before the Supreme Constitutional Court of the fictional Republic of Helios, whose constitutional and statutory framework is stated to be in pari materia with that of India. The problem turns on a Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Act, 2026 inserting Article 164(4A), under which a Chief Minister or Minister held in custody for thirty consecutive days on an allegation punishable with five years’ imprisonment or more must resign, on a fractured Assembly result and the Governor’s handling of rival majority claims, on disqualification proceedings and a dispute over a reserved election symbol, and on the seizure and forensic examination of electronic records.

The four issues framed are:

• Whether the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Act, 2026 is constitutionally valid and, if valid, whether its operation vacated the office of the Chief Minister.
• Whether the exercise of power by the Governor, the Speaker and the Constitutional Election Commission over government formation, the alleged party merger, the disqualification proceedings and the reserved election symbol was constitutionally and legally valid.
• Whether the search, seizure, forensic examination and proposed use of electronic records comply with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 and other applicable law.
• Whether the collection, preservation and use of cloud-based communications and other digital records violate the right to privacy, legal professional privilege or other constitutional safeguards.

• All students pursuing a five-year integrated LL.B. or a three-year LL.B. programme at recognised law schools, universities and institutions in India are eligible.
• Each institution may be represented by only one team.
• A team may consist of either two or three members. A team of two shall have two speakers; a team of three shall have two speakers and one researcher.
• All members of a team must belong to the same institution or department.
• Any intended change in team composition must be intimated to the organising committee by email at mcs@gbu.ac.in.
• A maximum of two observers may accompany a team, on payment of an additional registration charge of Rs 500 per observer.
• The language of the competition is English. Participants must attend all rounds in formal court room attire carrying no name or logo of the institution.

Each team must complete the online registration form by 2 October 2026, 23:59 IST. A confirmation email follows a successful submission, and a team that does not receive one should write to mcs@gbu.ac.in with its registration details. Incomplete forms will be rejected. Each team must also carry a no-objection certificate from its institute along with a duly filled hard copy of the registration form at the time of reporting.

• Registration fee: Rs 3,500 per team.
• Observers: Rs 500 per observer, for a maximum of two observers.
• Accommodation: Rs 1,000 per team per day, inclusive of stay and food, on request. Observers pay Rs 1,000 per room per day separately.

Payment is to be made to Gautam Buddha University, Punjab National Bank, account number 6660000100000672, IFSC PUNB0666000 (all zeros). A screenshot showing the transaction ID and date of transaction must be attached along with the registration form. Registration is confirmed only after both the payment and the duly filled form are received within the stated time limits. No refund is given on withdrawal.

Each team must prepare memorials for both sides. Once submitted, no revisions, supplements or additions are permitted.

• Soft copies for both sides go in a single email to mcs@gbu.ac.in on or before 16 October 2026, in PDF as well as Word format, named ‘P (TC)’ for the Petitioner and ‘R (TC)’ for the Respondent, where TC is the allotted team code.
• One point is deducted for every hour of delay, for an extended 24 hours only. Soft copies later than that are not accepted.
• Five hard copies from each side, ten in all, must reach the Moot Court Society, School of Law, Justice & Governance, Gautam Buddha University, Yamuna Expressway, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201312 on or before 27 October 2026, spiral bound, with one hard copy of the registration form.
• The Petitioner’s cover page is printed on blue A4 paper and the Respondent’s on red, with ‘P’ or ‘R’ and the team code on the top right corner.
• Body text in Times New Roman size 12 with 1.5 line spacing; footnotes in Times New Roman size 10, single spaced, following The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th edition). Margins of at least one inch on all sides.
• The Arguments Advanced section may not exceed 30 pages and the memorial as a whole may not exceed 45 pages including the cover page.
• Similarity in the Arguments Advanced section must be under 10 per cent. AI generated content in that section is also capped at under 10 per cent, and teams are held fully responsible for fake citations or fabricated precedents produced by AI.
• The required sections are the cover page, table of contents, table of abbreviations, index of authorities, statement of jurisdiction, statement of facts, issues raised, summary of arguments, arguments advanced and prayer.

Memorials are marked out of 100 across knowledge of law and facts, proper and articulate analysis, extent and use of research, clarity and organisation, and correct format, citation, grammar and style.

The oral rounds run at four levels: preliminary, quarter-final, semi-final and final. Rebuttals and sur-rebuttals are at the discretion of the judges, and where allowed the time is deducted from total speaker time and may not be reserved beyond five minutes.

• Preliminary rounds: every team argues twice, once for the Petitioner and once for the Respondent, with 30 minutes per team including rebuttal, and no speaker pleading for less than 10 minutes. The top eight teams on aggregate qualify for the quarter-final.
• Quarter-final, semi-final and final: 40 minutes per team including rebuttal, with no speaker pleading for less than 15 minutes. The quarter-final and semi-final are decided on a knockout basis.
• In a tie, the team with the higher memorial score wins the round.
• Speakers are marked out of 100 across knowledge and interpretation of law, application of law to facts, ingenuity and ability to answer, style, poise, courtesy and demeanour, and compliance with rules and specifications.
• The Best Speaker award is decided on the individual aggregate score of the speakers in the preliminary rounds alone.

Written requests for clarification on the moot proposition or the competition rules may be sent to mcs@gbu.ac.in on or before 3 October 2026, 23:59 IST, with the subject line “Need Clarification: 5th P.N. Mathur Memorial National Moot Court Competition, 2026”. The full list of clarifications is released on 6 October 2026. Communications through WhatsApp are not entertained and are not taken into account when the final list of clarifications is prepared.

Teams are identified only by the unique team code allotted after registration. Names of participants or their colleges must not appear on or within the written submissions, and signature pages are prohibited. Any disclosure of identity, in the memorial or during oral arguments, may lead to disqualification. Scouting on behalf of a team invites disqualification. A complaint about a rule violation must be registered with the organising committee within 30 minutes of the round in question, and no team may approach the judges. In case of conflict, the decision of the Dean, School of Law, Justice & Governance is final and binding.