New Delhi, Feb 8 (TIWN) The India centre of New York's Cornell Law School has launched operations with a public lecture by jurist and Member of Parliament Abhishek Singhvi outlining a series of urgent reforms needed in the Indian justice system.

Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice A.K. Sikri, presided over the event which was hosted here in collaboration with the Jindal Global Law School of O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, on Friday.  The Cornell India Law Centre was founded last September to promote engagement in the US legal academy with Indian law and legal institutions and foster international collaborations among legal scholars.  The Cornell India Law Centre is the only programme based in a US law school that focuses exclusively on the comparative study of Indian law across a range of different subject areas. 

"India has a rich constitutional tradition and jurisprudence that lends itself to comparative legal studies. India and United States are both pluralistic, democratic, and common law systems. Yet, historically only disciplines in the humanities and social sciences have engaged in the study of India," said Sital Kalantry, Faculty Director of the centre and Clinical Professor of Law.  "The comparative study of Indian law and legal institutions in the United States is more important today than it has ever been before and we are proud to have Cornell Law School to be a focal point for it," Dean of Cornell Law School Eduardo Penalver added.