Avantika’s Nyayashastra 3rd PAN-India Moot Court Competition 2026 at Avantika University, Ujjain (Hybrid, Oct 21 - Nov 5; Winning Team Rs 17,500; Register by Oct 20)

The School of Law and Public Policy, Avantika University, Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) is holding the third edition of Avantika’s Nyayashastra PAN-India Moot Court Competition in 2026. The competition runs in two phases. The Researcher’s Test, the preliminary rounds and the quarter-finals are held online on the Cisco WebEx platform from 21 to 23 October 2026. The semi-final and final rounds take place on the Avantika University campus in Ujjain on 5 November 2026.

All disputes and matters of interpretation are decided by the Moot Court Committee of the School of Law and Public Policy, whose decision is final.

The problem, Meera Sharma, Natural Guardian of Ira Sharma v. Saroj Kapur & Ors. (with a connected civil appeal), is set before the Supreme Court of India in appeals against a Full Bench judgment of the High Court. It concerns a child born through assisted reproduction after one commissioning spouse, a transgender man, emailed a withdrawal of consent before embryo transfer and later died intestate. The issues framed are:

• Whether the challenge to the marriage survives Aadi’s death, and whether the Hindu marriage was valid when Aadi held a section 6 certificate as a transgender person and received the revised section 7 certificate recording him as male nine days later.
• Whether Aadi’s email was an effective withdrawal of consent under section 22(4) of the ART Act before embryo transfer, and what follows from a transfer performed after it.
• Whether Ira is Aadi’s legal child under section 31 of the ART Act or any other principle, including whether Aadi was part of the “commissioning couple”, a “gamete donor”, both or neither, and how the child’s best interests bear on that.
• Whether Aadi’s estate devolves under sections 8 to 13 or sections 15 to 16 of the Hindu Succession Act, what role legal gender, sex assigned at birth and constitutional equality play, and what shares Meera, Ira and Saroj receive.

Applicable law includes Articles 14, 15, 21, 136 and 142 of the Constitution, the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021. The constitutional validity of these statutes is not directly challenged.

• Open to students enrolled in an undergraduate law programme (3-year or 5-year) at any college or university.
• Each college, university or institution may register only one team.
• A team has two or three members. In a two-member team both are Speakers; in a three-member team two are Speakers and the third is the Researcher.
• No change in team composition is allowed after memorials are submitted, except at the Organiser’s discretion.
• No additional student may accompany the team, but a faculty coach from the participating institution may.
• The official language is English, for both memorials and oral rounds.

• Register through the official Google Form by 20 October 2026 (11:59 PM IST).
• Before filling in the form, pay the registration fee of Rs 3,000 per team (for a team of two or three) through the UPI QR code given in the form, and upload the payment screenshot to the form.
• The fee is non-refundable.
• After registration and payment, teams receive a confirmation email and must join the competition WhatsApp group, whose link is shared after registration. All further communication is by email.
• Team codes are allotted on 21 October 2026, after registration closes. Teams must not reveal their identity except through the team code.

• Each team prepares memorials for both sides (Appellant and Respondent).
• Soft copies in both PDF and Word format must be emailed to mootcourt@avantika.edu.in by 21 October 2026 (11:59 PM IST), all four files in one email, with the subject line showing the team code only (for example, “Team 05 Memorials”).
• Files are named by side and team code, for example “A05” for the Appellant and “R05” for the Respondent. The same code goes on the top right-hand corner of each cover page.
• Cover colours: Blue for the Appellant/Petitioner, Red for the Respondent.
• Memorials must not disclose the identity of the institution; doing so leads to immediate disqualification. Late submission attracts a penalty.
• Teams that qualify for the offline rounds must bring five spiral-bound hard copies of each memorial, printed on one side of A4 sheets and identical to the soft copies.
• Clarifications on the proposition may be sought only by email to mootcourt@avantika.edu.in, by 20 October 2026 (11:59 PM IST).

• 21 October (online): draw of lots, memorial exchange and the Researcher’s Test.
• 22 October (online): Preliminary Rounds I and II. Each team argues one side, informed in advance by email, but memorials are prepared for both.
• 23 October (online): Quarter-Final Round.
• 5 November (on campus): Semi-Final Round, then the Final Round and Valedictory Ceremony.

Rebuttal and sur-rebuttal are at the bench’s discretion and are presented by one speaker only, up to 3 minutes in the preliminaries, 5 in the quarter-final, 7 in the semi-final and 10 in the final. The Researcher sits with the speakers but may not address the bench, and electronic devices may not be used during the proceedings.

• Teams qualifying for the semi-final and final rounds must attend on campus in Ujjain.
• The University provides shared accommodation and transport at Rs 2,000 per participant, covering breakfast, lunch, dinner and hi-tea.
• Qualifying teams get transport from Ujjain Junction Railway Station, and meals are arranged on the day of the competition. Other pick-up and drop is available on demand and is chargeable.

All participants receive an e-certificate of participation. For teams that compete only online, e-certificates are emailed to their university email address within two weeks of the competition ending. Teams that reach the on-campus rounds receive their certificates at the Valedictory Ceremony.