IX Surana & Surana and UPES School of Law Insolvency Law Moot Court Competition 2026, Dehradun [Offline, 30 Oct to 1 Nov; Prize Pool Rs 1.3 Lakh]

UPES was established in 2003 through the UPES Act, 2003 of the State Legislature of Uttarakhand and is accredited with grade “A” by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. In the NIRF 2025 rankings of the Ministry of Education, UPES School of Law was ranked 18th in the Law category, with the University ranked 45th overall in the University category. The School has a partnership with the UK-based University of Law, and MoUs with the Maurer School of Law and Nottingham Trent University.

The Moot Court Committee (MCC) is the flagship committee of the School of Law, UPES. It has run fifteen editions of the Dr Paras Diwan Moot Court Competition and eight previous editions of this Insolvency Law Moot, and in 2026 hosted its inaugural International Moot Court Competition. Alongside the national competitions it conducts a Novice Moot and an Internal Moot each year, plus mooting workshops, memorial drafting sessions and interactive seminars.

Surana & Surana International Attorneys, established in 1971, operates from three offices in India at Chennai, Coimbatore and New Delhi, and has been listed among the top law firms in India since 1998. It is the world’s first law firm to achieve SA8000 and ISO 14000 certification, and Asia’s first to achieve ISO 9001 certification for professional legal services.

The firm’s Academic Initiatives division runs what is now described as the world’s largest moot court programme. Inspired by conversations between the firm’s founder Mr. P. S. Surana and Hon’ble Justice Krishna Iyer in the late 1980s about keeping strong advocacy talent at the Bar, the firm has since conducted close to 400 moot court competitions along with judgment writing, arbitral award and essay competitions. The present Chief Patron is Shri R. Venkataramani, Attorney General for India and Senior Advocate, Supreme Court. Surana & Surana has been the joint organiser of the Insolvency Law Moot at UPES School of Law since its inaugural edition in 2018, making 2026 the ninth consecutive year of the collaboration.

The IX Surana & Surana and UPES School of Law, Insolvency Law Moot Court Competition, 2026 is scheduled in offline mode from 30 October to 1 November 2026 at the Kandoli Campus of UPES, Dehradun. The competition aims to facilitate an understanding of evolving jurisprudence in insolvency law and its emerging trends, while enhancing research, writing and advocacy skills. The proceedings are conducted in English.

The case record was released on 13 August 2026. It is set in the Republic of Valyria, a small country in West Asia whose Banca Rotta Code of 2016 is modelled entirely on the Indian Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, with comparable committee reports, draft Bills and amendments, and where Indian judicial precedents on the IBC have binding effect on Valyrian courts. The dispute concerns Lannister Co., a company leasing land parcels to manufacturers and running a marketing and distribution business, and turns on amendments introduced to that code in March 2026, some notified and some yet to take effect.

• The competition is open to students pursuing LL.B. courses (three-year or five-year) during the academic year 2026-27.
• The maximum number of participants per team is 3, of whom only 2 may be speakers and 1 shall be the designated researcher.
• The researcher may argue only with the prior permission of the court and the Chief Administrator, in case of illness of a designated speaker.
• No team coach, mentor, observer or any other person may accompany the registered participating team members.
• Teams must not disclose the identity of their institution. Disclosure invites penalties including disqualification, at the discretion of the Chief Administrator.

Registration runs in two stages, both of which opened on 13 August 2026.

• Provisional registration is mandatory for every university, done through its moot court society ID by 15 September 2026. Teams receive a confirmation email from the host university.
• Final registration is completed online at www.moot.in by 22 September 2026. Approval of the request for participation follows within 3 days of the last date of registration.

At final registration teams must send, to mca.upes@gmail.com, an external participation form or approval letter with seal and signature (page 24 of the brochure) duly filled by the participant’s institution or moot society, the registration form in the prescribed format, and a scanned copy of the online payment receipt. Signatories on the registration form must be the Faculty-in-charge of MCA/MCC/MCS, or the Registrar, Dean, Principal, Director, Senior Director or Vice-Chancellor. The subject line of the email must read “IX SURANA & SURANA AND UPES SCHOOL OF LAW, INSOLVENCY LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION 2026”.

Fee: a registration fee of Rs 4,000 per team is payable online by net banking at the time of registration, to beneficiary UPES, account number 011594600000224, IFSC YESB0000115, Yes Bank Ltd., Ground Floor, 56, Rajpur Road, Dehradun 248001. Teams must supply the name and address of the person or entity making the payment along with the UTR/RTGS transaction number for reconciliation. Teams that qualify for the on-campus rounds pay a further Rs 3,000 per team per day towards accommodation and food, remitted within the timeline communicated after the memorial results. The fee once paid is not refunded under any circumstances.

Each team prepares written submissions for both the Appellant and the Respondent, identified solely by the team code. The Appellant cover page must be blue and the Respondent cover page red.

• Soft copies go in a zip folder to the memorial submission link and by email to mca.upes@gmail.com and ai@lawindia.com on or before 5 October 2026, 11:59 PM IST. Late submissions are penalised one point per memorial per side for every hour of delay, up to 6 October 2026, 11:59 PM.
• Files must be submitted in Word and PDF, named “Team Code – Appellant” and “Team Code – Respondent”. No revisions, supplements or additions are allowed once submitted.
• The similarity index must not exceed 15%. Teams using generative AI tools are fully responsible for ensuring no fabricated facts, quotations or sources appear; the Organising Committee runs an independent source-authenticity review and fabricated material attracts penalties up to disqualification.
• Mandatory heads: cover page, table of contents, list of abbreviations, index of authorities, statement of jurisdiction, statement of facts (max 2 pages), issues raised, summary of arguments (max 2 pages), arguments advanced (max 30 pages) and prayer (max 1 page).
• Formatting: A4, Times New Roman 12, line spacing 1.5, justified, 1 inch margins, page numbers bottom right; footnotes in Times New Roman 10, spacing 1, no extra space between footnotes. Citations follow Bluebook (21st edition). No annexures or photographs.
• 8 hard copies of each side’s memorial are submitted at the registration desk on 30 October 2026. A compendium is optional but, if made, must be submitted at the same time; a team that does not submit one may not share it with the bench.

Memorials are evaluated by a panel of judges and designated researchers sit the Researcher’s Test online on 12 October 2026. The top sixteen teams qualify for the on-campus rounds on the aggregate of their memorial evaluation scores, announced on 13 October 2026. The Researcher’s Test result is released with the competition result on 1 November 2026.

• Preliminary Rounds 1 and 2 (31 October 2026): 30 minutes per team including rebuttals and sur-rebuttals, with 10 to 15 minutes per speaker. Memorial marks are added to preliminary round scores only.
• Quarter-Finals (31 October 2026): the top eight teams from the preliminary rounds, knockout, 30 minutes per team.
• Semi-Finals (31 October 2026): knockout, 45 minutes per team with 20 to 25 minutes per speaker.
• Final Round (1 November 2026): 45 minutes per team, followed by the Valedictory Ceremony at which all results are announced.

Written submissions are marked out of 100 across analysis of issues, explanation of legal principles, understanding of applicable principles, presentation of arguments, use of legal sources, depth of research and originality of approach. Oral rounds are marked out of 100 across knowledge of law and facts, logic and reasoning, organisation and clarity, persuasiveness, style and courtesy, analysis of issues, use of legal sources and ingenuity.

• Dress code: as per the Bar Council of India Rules for Advocates.
• Scouting is strictly prohibited. Teams may not observe the oral rounds of other teams; scouting by any team member results in disqualification.
• Anonymity: counsel introduce themselves by competition code only. No identifying clothing, ties, patches, pins or logo-bearing material is permitted before the Valedictory Ceremony.
• Clarifications may be sought until 22 September 2026, 11:59 PM IST, and are posted on www.moot.in and emailed to registered participants by 26 September 2026.
• Accommodation is provided from 10 am on 30 October 2026 to 12 noon on 1 November 2026 at Rs 3,000 per team per day. Transport between the accommodation and the Kandoli campus runs morning and evening on the competition dates.
• The travel plan (Annexure B) and the accommodation fee are due by 11:59 PM IST on 18 October 2026, emailed to mca.upes@gmail.com.
• Copyright in the memorials vests fully in Surana & Surana and UPES School of Law, Dehradun.
• All official communication is issued only from mca.upes@gmail.com; teams should whitelist the address and check spam folders.