Nyaya Setu 2026: 3rd National Legal Aid Policy Convention on AI and Justice at NMIMS Indore [Hybrid; Cash Prizes Rs 40,000]

Nyaya Setu: The AI and Justice Policy Convention is the 3rd edition of the National Legal Aid Policy Convention hosted by the School of Law, SVKM's NMIMS Indore. The brochure describes it as a national-level policy drafting competition conceptualised as a Policy Hackathon, addressing the challenges thrown up by the deployment of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Indian legal system.

The convention deliberately moves away from conventional academic writing. Teams are asked to draft practical, implementable policy frameworks and model guidelines for AI governance in justice delivery, and then defend them before a simulated Parliamentary Standing Committee. The tagline on the brochure cover is "Drafting the Future of Indian Justice".

The School of Law, SVKM's NMIMS, Indore is a constituent school of SVKM's NMIMS (Deemed to be University), established in 2019 with the approval of the Bar Council of India. It runs five-year integrated B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) and B.B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) programmes.

The event is organised by SAMATVA, the Legal Aid and Awareness Cell of NMIMS Indore, in collaboration with the Centre for Research Excellence in Generative Artificial Intelligence, an academic initiative of NMIMS Indore. Civis, a non-profit run by the Civic Innovation Foundation that works on citizen participation in lawmaking, is the knowledge partner and evaluates the preliminary submissions through its policy experts panel and policy analysis tool.

The primary objective is to draft policy guidelines regulating the use of Generative AI within India's justice and legal aid ecosystem. Participants are asked to critically evaluate risks including algorithmic bias against marginalised communities, hallucination of legal precedents, and threats to data privacy and transparency.

Problem statements are drawn from existing gaps in the Indian legal AI landscape. Teams draft policy guidelines proposed as part of the National AI Governance Framework, focusing on areas such as:

• AI-assisted legal information systems
• Legal document drafting tools
• Case assessment mechanisms
• Multilingual access to justice
• Research support for legal aid lawyers

The brochure frames the overarching question as how AI can be responsibly used to improve access, affordability and efficiency in justice delivery while holding to constitutional compliance, inclusivity and ethical safeguards.

• Open to students pursuing a recognised degree from any university or college.
• Participants must be from a UGC recognised university or institution across India.
• Two members per team.
• A participant may take part in only one team.

All submissions, presentations and interactions are to be in English.

The competition runs as a Policy Drafting Competition (Policy Hackathon) across three phases, testing the ability to identify policy gaps, draft legislative frameworks, and defend policy proposals before a simulated Parliamentary Standing Committee.

• Preliminary Stage: written submission of a Policy Concept Note of up to 2,000 words, evaluated by knowledge partner Civis through its policy experts panel and policy analysis tool. The top 8 policy drafts qualify for the Advanced Stage.
• Advanced Stage: the 8 shortlisted teams take part in quarter-final and semi-final rounds at the NMIMS Indore campus, along with a final policy of up to 7,500 words. They are judged on research, presentation, discussion and constructive criticism of other teams' policies. The top 2 drafts proceed to the final stage.
• Final Stage: the top 2 teams compete in the final round, followed by a press conference round conducted as a Simulated Parliamentary Standing Committee Hearing, which decides the Best Speaker award. The decision of the panel is final and binding.

The competition is hybrid. The preliminary round is conducted online and the subsequent rounds are offline on campus at NMIMS Indore. The advanced rounds are scheduled for 17 September 2026 and the final rounds for 18 September 2026.

Accommodation charges will be communicated separately to the top 8 shortlisted teams.

Registration is through the official Google Form linked in the brochure. The registration fee is Rs 900 per team and is non-refundable. Registration is treated as complete only when the organising committee sends a confirmation email, and the details entered at registration are the ones printed on certificates.

Payment is made through the NMIMS payment page at https://nmims.edu/payments/final/dataFrom.php. The brochure asks participants to enter the amount as 900, the Program Name as NYAYA SETU, Purpose of Payment as Event Registration, Campus as Indore, and to use samatva.solindore@nmims.edu in every email field rather than a personal email id, adding the note "REGISTRATION FEE FOR 3rd LEGAL AID POLICY CONVENTION". UPI, card, netbanking and wallet options are available.

One caution on dates. The brochure carries two different registration cut-offs: the Registration Process page states that teams must register on or before 25 August 2026 to be eligible, while the timeline table, footnoted "These are the revised dates", shows registration closing on 30 August 2026. Treat 25 August 2026 as the operative cut-off and confirm the position with the organising committee before relying on the later date.

Cash prizes with trophies are awarded to the Winner, the First Runners-Up and the Best Speaker, totalling Rs 40,000. Certificates carry the details entered at registration.

On intellectual property, the brochure states that the Organising Committee retains intellectual property rights over submitted policies and holds a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, modify, publish and distribute them. Co-authorship will be acknowledged for public use of submissions.