3rd NOVICE MOOT COURT
COMPETITION, 2019-20
GENERAL MANUAL ON RULES & REGULATIONS AND
MOOT PROPOSITION
MOOT COURT ASSOCIATION
SCHOOL OF LAW
PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY, BENGALURU
3rd NOVICE MOOT COURT COMPETITION
1. OBJECTIVE
This Moot will be called as Novice Moot Court Competition. It is conducted for
a. Introducing and developing Moot Court Competition among the first-year
students.
b. To make pool of speakers and researchers for representing School of Law
in different moot court competitions.
2. DATE AND VENUE
The 3rd Novice Moot Court shall be held from 7th to 9th November, 2019 at
Presidency University, Bengaluru.
3. DRESS CODE
Inside the Court room, the participants shall be in formal wear only.
a. Male participants are required to wear are required to wear a full suit
comprising of black formal blazer and trousers, full sleeved shirts, black
tie and formal footwear.
b. Female participants are required to wear black and white Western or
Indian formals with appropriate formal footwear.
4. TEAM COMPOSITION
a. One team, comprising of three members shall be eligible to participate in
the competition, subject to completion of registration formalities.
b. Each team shall be composed of two speakers and one researcher.
c. Each team should prepare one memorial for each side, i.e the plaintiff and
defendant(s).
5. IDENTIFICATION OFPARTICIPATING TEAM:
Each team will have a team code which shall be given to them after the
completion of their registration.
6. REGISTRATION
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Each team shall duly fill the google form sent so as to confirm your registration
for participating in the Moot Court Competition.
7. DRAW OF LOTS
The draw of lots for the Prelims round will take place on 7th November 2019 at
9:00 am.
8. ORAL ROUNDS
There shall be a Preliminary Round, a quarter-final round, a semi-final round
and a final round. Lots picked by the teams will decide the side of the
arguments in Preliminary rounds.
a. Preliminary Rounds:
Each team will be given a total of 15 minutes to present their case. This time
includes questioning by the judges. The division of time is left to the discretion
of the team members. Division of time should be informed to the Court
Assistants/ Clerks prior to the commencement of the round. The oral arguments
need to be confined to the issues presented in the memorials. Passing of notes to
the speakers by the researcher during the rounds is allowed. Judges may at their
discretion, extend the time allotted for the oral arguments up to a maximum of 5
minutes each team.
In the Preliminary Round, each Team shall argue on behalf of only the Plaintiff
or Defendant, based on the Draw of Lots. All teams are expected to carry with
themselves any case laws or authorities which they intend to refer to.
Preliminary round will be on 7th November 2019. Top sixteen teams will
qualify for the Quarter Finals at the end of this Round. The top sixteen teams
shall be decided on the basis of the aggregate of oral score and the memorial
score. Scores in the researcher’s test will be used in order to resolve a tie.
The Quarter Finals will also be held on 7th November.
Semi Finals and the Finals will be held on 8th and 9th November, 2019
respectively.
b. Quarter Finals:
The highest ranked sixteen (16) teams from the Preliminary Rounds shall
qualify for the Quarter finals. The first 16 teams will be selected on the basis of
their oral scores in the Preliminary Rounds plus the scores in the score of their
memorials. The fixtures for the Quarter Finals shall be determined on the basis
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of draw of lots. For this round, each team shall argue only once against the team
determined by and for the side decided by a draw of lots. The time for
presenting the arguments shall be extended to 20 minutes each team including
the time for rebuttal.
Four (4) teams shall qualify for the Semi Final Rounds on a knock-out basis.
The winner will be decided only on the basis of the oral arguments. Only in case
of a tie, the memorial score will be considered.
c. Semi-Final Rounds:
The four (4) teams that proceed to the Semi Final Rounds, as determined by the
Rules above, shall each argue only once for the side allotted by a draw of lots.
The fixtures for the Semi Final Rounds shall be determined on the basis of draw
of lots. Two (2) teams shall qualify for the Final Round on a knockout basis,
i.e., the winner of each Semi Final Round shall qualify to the Final Round.
The time limit stipulated for each team for the presentation of arguments shall
be 30 minutes including the time for rebuttal. The judges may extend the time
in their discretion up to a maximumof 5 minutes each team. The winner will be
decided only on the basis of the oralarguments. Only in case of a tie, the
memorial score will be considered.
d. Final Round:
The two (2) teams that proceed to the Final Round, as determined by theRules
above, shall each argue only once for the side allotted by a draw of lots.
The team which wins in the Final Round shall be declared as the
“WinningTeam”. The other team shall be declared as the “Runners up Team.”
In the Finals, each team will get a total of 45 minutes to present their case.The
division of time is left to the discretion of the team members. Division of time
should be informedto the Court Assistants/ Clerks before the beginning of the
rounds. The oralarguments need not be confined to the issues presented in the
memorials.
The side the Participating Teams will be arguing for will be decided by adraw
of lots, with the Participating Teams picking the lots.
a. Speaker marks, for the purposes of other Rounds of the Competition, shall be
utilized as determined elsewhere in these Rules.
b. The evaluation would be done on the following criteria:
1. Marshalling of facts -----------------------------------------------------10 Marks
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2. Application of legal principle ------------------------------------------15 Marks
3. Logical structuring and reasoning--------------------------------------10 Marks
4. Ingenuity and originality ------------------------------------------------10 Marks
5. Articulation of issues-----------------------------------------------------10 Marks
6. Presentation skills and communication ability------------------------10 Marks
7. Response to questions posed--------------------------------------------10 Marks
8. Use of authorities and precedents---------------------------------------20 Marks
9. Court etiquettes------------------------------------------------------------10 Marks
9. RESEARCHERS’ TEST:
A written test will be conducted to decide the “Best Researcher” on 8th
November, 2019. Questions for such researchers’ test will be framed based
upon the factual circumstances of theMoot Proposition and the principles
applicable thereto. This researcher’stest is open only for the designated
researchers of the Participating Teams.
In case of a tie, the score of the memorials will be considered to decide the“Best
Researcher”.
10. MEMORIALS:
a. The Memorials shall necessarily consist of the following and only
thefollowing sections:
1. Cover Page
2. Table of Contents
3. List of Abbreviations
4. Index of Authorities
5. Statement of Jurisdiction
6. Statement of Facts
7. Statement of Issues
8. Summary of Arguments
9. Arguments Advanced
10. Prayer
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b. Each Memorial shall have the following and only the following on its
coverpage:
1. The team code on the top right-hand corner of the cover page.
2. The name and place of the forum
3. Name of parties and their status
4. Memorial Submitted to... or Memorial Filed and appearing on Behalf of...
d. The hard copies of the Memorials must bear a cover page in conformitywith
the following scheme:
1. Petitioner: Blue
2. Respondent: Red
e. The electronic copy of each Memorial must reach the following e-
mailaddress: novicemootcourt@gmail.com latest by 00:00 hours (IST) on 27th
October, 2019. Both Memorials must be attached in a single e-mail onlywith the
subject of the e-mail being “Memorials for Team Code _”. For everyday of
delay, there shall be a penalty of 2 Marks. However, Memorialsreceived after
27th October, 2019 shall not be considered.
f. The Memorials must only be in “.pdf” format. The file names of the
softcopies of the Memorials must contain only the team code and the side
beingrepresented in the following format: 23-P or 23-R, where “P” represents
the Plaintiff side and “D” represents the Defendant side.
g. The Participating Teams shall submit two (2) hard copies of Memorialfor
each side of the Proposition to the Organizers on 28th& 29th October, 2019.
h. All Memorials submitted must strictly conform to the following
generalrequirements. Non-conformity may attract negative marking in a manner
asindicated below:
1. Memorials must only be printed on plain white A4 paper with black ink.
2. The font used must only be Times New Roman, Size 12 for the main
textwhereas it shall be 10 for the footnotes.
3. The memorials have to be consistent with the rules mentioned in the
FirstSchedule of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. Footnotes must not
beexplanatory in nature.
4. Bluebook 20th edition of footnoting must be followed as far as practicable.
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5. Each page of the Memorial must have a margin of one inch on all sides.No
text must be placed within this margin of the page, other than the pagenumber.
6. The maximum number of pages in each Memorial should not exceed
35including 20 maximum pages for Written Submissions/ ArgumentsAdvanced.
7. Any form of legal argument or legal interpretation of the facts of
theProposition must be confined to the “Arguments Advanced” section of
theMemorial.
The exceptions are:
• To the extent that the Prayer for Relief sets out the relief;
• Insofar as such argument may be summarized in the “Summary
ofArguments”; and
• In so far as the argument may be anticipated in the “Statement of Issues”.
8. The Index of Authorities must contain a list of all legal authorities cited inany
section of the Memorial. The Index must contain the page number(s) ofthe
Memorial where the authorities are so cited.
9. No amendments can be made to the Memorials after submission.
Anydistinction or difference between the soft and hard copies of the
Memorialswould attract a penalty, as determined by the Organizers.
10. The Participating Teams may submit a compendium at the time
ofcommencement of oral rounds to the Court Assistants/ Clerk.
Thecompendium shall in no way disclose the identity of the
ParticipatingInstitution or of the Participants.
11. EVALUATION OF MEMORIALS:
Every Memorial will be marked on a total of 100 marks and the teammemorial
marks will be the average of the total of both sides. The followingshall be the
marking scheme:
1. Application and appreciation of facts---------------------------------10 Marks
2. Identification, structuring and presentation of issues-----------------20 Marks
3. Application of legal principles, authorities and precedents----------30 Marks
4. Ingenuity and logical reasoning -----------------------------------------20 Marks
5. Lucidity and writing skills------------------------------------------------10 Marks
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6. Proper footnoting and formatting----------------------------------------10Marks
12. EXCHANGE OF MEMORIALS:
a. There shall be an exchange of memorials between the respective
opposingteams, in accordance with the fixtures as determined by a draw of lots,
priorto all the Rounds of the Competition.
b. The teams are prohibited from making any marks on the
exchangedMemorials.
c. The teams are prohibited from making any copies of the
exchangedMemorials.
d. At the conclusion of their respective Rounds, the teams are required toreturn
the exchanged Memorials to the Court Assistants/ Clerk where theRound is
conducted.
13. AWARDS:
a. Winning Team: The winning team of the final rounds, which will be heldon
9th November,2019.
b. Runners-up Team: The team which contested against the winning team inthe
final rounds.
c. Best Speaker: The Speaker, who secure the highest marks based upon
themarks of the Panel Round of the Competition will be adjudged as the
“BestSpeaker”.
d. Best Researcher: The researcher securing highest marks in theresearchers’
test will be adjudged as the “Best Researcher”.
14. CLARIFICATIONS:
a. Last date for requesting clarifications on the Moot Problem is 1st
October,2019. Teams may submit their clarifications via Email to
novicemootcourt@gmail.com. Teams are requested to use the email as the
mode forseeking clarifications. The subject of mail shall be “Seeking
Clarification’.
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b. The clarifications should be requested only through the form of email andwill
not be entertained by any other mode of communication.
c. All the clarifications will be posted on the official blog of School of Law on
10th October,2019.
15. DISCLAIMER:
The 3rd Novice Moot Court Competition is based on a purely fictitiousproblem,
whereby the characters & the incidents or the courseof events in the problem are
completely imaginary and the same has norelation to any person living or dead
or any past/present real-life incident.
The 3rd Novice Moot Court Competition is made solely for the purpose
oftraining the first-year law student in developing an analytical bent of mind
andserving the Bar and the Bench to the best of their abilities.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If any student contacts or tries to contact any faculty or any MCA
member seeking help for drafting of the memorialsshall hold the entire
team guilty of malpractice. Hence, disqualifying the team from
participating any further.
16. LIST OF EVENTS:
Events Date
Release of Moot Proposition 21st September
Last date of Registration 29th September
Last date for Clarifications 1st October
Release of Clarifications 10th October
Submissions of soft copy 27th October
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Submissions of hard copy 28th& 29th October
Draw of lots 7th November
Preliminary rounds 7th November
Quarter finals 7th November
Researchers’ test 8th November
Semi finals 8th November
Finals 9th November
Valedictory 9th November
MOOT PROPOSITION
1. Throughout the problem, Dhanbad Ltd. and Patna Ltd., were and are companies
incorporated in Indiana under the Companies Act, 2013 and have the power to sue and be
sued.
2. Dhanbad Ltd. is an event planning company for wedding parties, directed by Ramadhir
Singh and J. P. Singh. 3. Patna Ltd., is a registered public company in Indiana. Sardar Khan is
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the company’s CEO. Sardar’s brothers Faisal Khan and Danish are the Chief Financial
Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively.
4. Dhanbad Ltd. hosts an annual networking event at which each of its 25 employees is
required to bring a potential new client. This provides Dhanbad Ltd. with an opportunity to
showcase its skills as one of the industry’s leading event planning organisations.
5. Each year, Dhanbad Ltd. chooses a different company to host the event in order to
highlight the range of possible event venues to prospective clients. On the basis that the last
client event hosted by Patna Ltd. was a huge success, Dhanbad Ltd. selected Patna Ltd. to
host its 2019 networking event.
6. On the evening of 2nd August, 2019, Dhanbad Ltd.’s employees and their invited guests
assembled at Richmond Circle at 7.00pm where they were to board the Patna Ltd. double
decker party bus which had been hired to shepherd them to and from various event venues.
As this was Dhanbad Ltd.’s 15th birthday celebration, the party was set to move between 5 of
Bihar’s hottest bars.
7. However, when the bus arrived at 7:45pm it was a single storey bus only suitable for 40
people, not the 50 people waiting to board the bus.
8. Ramadhir Singh and J. P. Singh approached the driver to clarify the situation as their
secretary Shama Parveen had assured them that she booked a double-decker party bus, the
“Night Hunter”, for 50 patrons.
9. To their horror, the bus driver showed Ramadhir Singh and J. P. Singh a copy of the
contract which mentioned the requirement of a bus having 40-50 capacity, complete with
Shama Parveen’s signature for the hire of a 40-50 passenger bus. As such, Patna Ltd. had sent
its best 40-person bus, the “Night Club”.
10. Despite this, it was apparent from the contract price that Patna Ltd. had in fact charged
Dhanbad Ltd. for use of the Night Hunter. Dhanbad Ltd. had paid in full for the 50-passenger
bus, as per all negotiations leading up to the execution of the contract.
11. The matter still had not been resolved by 8:00pm, now one hour after the official
function start time. Given that it was the heart of winter in Bihar, clients were becoming
exceptionally agitated about being left out in the cold, prompting one guest to tweet about the
ensuing debacle.
12. J. P. Singh called Sardar Khan on the night, who did not answer. J. P. Singh left a
voicemail stating the following: “this is not what we agreed. The bus was forty five minutes
late and to add insult to injury, the bus doesn’t fit everyone and as a result, people are
leaving. This has been a complete shambles; this is so disappointing. I expected more from
you and your Company. We have been doing business for so long now. I cannot believe you
let me down at such an important time for both our businesses. Consider the relationship at an
end. I seriously consider that “tumse na ho payega/तु मसे न हो पाएगा” (you won’t be able to
handle it anymore). Our current contracts with you are all cancelled.”
13. In order to mitigate the potential damage, one of the senior employees at Dhanbad Ltd.
hired two stretched blue jeeps from one of the company’s contacts to ensure that no further
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negative publicity would be circulated in the immediate future. Given the last minute nature
of the booking, this was an incredibly expensive venture (₹ 3,500).
14. The night proceeded, however, due to the late start of the party bus tour component of the
evening, three of the five nominated venues were unable to accommodate all of the guests as
the pre-agreed arrival times were not able to be met. This resulted in guests being separated
and in some cases, guests refused entry because two of the venues were at capacity upon
arrival of the bus.
15. The tour ended and it was apparent from the feedback received both on the night and
subsequent that the guests were not impressed with the event. This resulted in a souring of
relationships between Dhanbad Ltd., Patna Ltd. as well as other third party dealers that have
pre-existing relationships with Dhanbad Ltd.
16. As a result of the feedback, Ramadhir Singh emailed Sardar Khan noting his
disappointment with the evening, and in particular the failure of Patna Ltd. to arrive on time
and provide the correct bus. He requested a refund of the money paid for the evening, in
order to go some way to restoring the business relationship.
17. Sardar Khan responded shortly thereafter, apologising for the late arrival of the bus. He
explained that this was due to traffic congestion from both coal field trucks and a major VVIP
convoy of CM passing through the main roads on the same night in the same area. In relation
to Ramadhir Singh’s complaint regarding the bus, Sardar pointed out that this was the bus
that was contained in the contract, signed by Shama Parveen of Dhanbad Ltd. As such, he
refused the request to refund the money paid pursuant to the contract.
18. As a consequence of the disastrous evening, it became apparent that the business of
Dhanbad Ltd. started slowing. This included some cancellations of existing bookings and
after the fifth booking was cancelled, J. P. Singh asked why the particular company was no
longer engaging Dhanbad Ltd. The client representative quipped “we at Definite Ltd. pride
ourselves on making sure we deliver on what we promise without fail. Not sure we can say
the same about your company”.
19. The value of the contracts lost is in the amount of ₹ 5,60,000. The value of the business
lost from prospective clients like CEO of Perpendicular Ltd. and others attending the night of
the event is quite significant. The business lost has been quantified in the realm of ₹ 2 - ₹ 3
crores over next 6 years.
20. Dhanbad Ltd. filed a suit for breach of Contract on 4th August, 2021, pursuant to the
dispute resolution clause contained in the contract with Patna Ltd.
21. In summary, Dhanbad Ltd. has sought the following relief: Declaration that Patna Ltd. is
in breach of its contract with Dhanbad Ltd.; Damages for breach of contract: ₹ 4,500; Loss of
future earnings: ₹ 5,60,000 + ₹ 2 – 3 crores in new business; Loss of reputation: ₹
50,00,000; Rent of the Two blue jeeps: ₹ 3,500; and Costs paid pursuant to contacts with
third party venues resulting from failure to comply with arrival and departure times: ₹
55,000. With interest and costs because Dhanbad Ltd.’s motto in business is “Teri keh ke
Lunga/ते री कह के ल ूँगा” (I will let you know. You will see me coming.
You still won't be able to do anything about it). The laws of Indiana are Pari Materia with
laws Republic of India. Bihar is a state in Indiana.
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Common Issues (This is not an exhaustive list):
I. Whether the suit filed is maintainable?
II. Whether a mistake of fact occurred in the contract between Patna Ltd and Dhanbad Ltd?
III. Whether there was a failure in the discharge of obligation(s) of the contract by any party?
IV. Whether there was a breach of Contract as per the dispute resolution clause?
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