Delhi University

Ph.D. in Law

Course Description

The Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy may be granted in any Faculty of the University.

Subject to the general guidance of the Academic Council research studies in the University to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) shall be organised by Board of Research Studies, one each for Humanities, for Sciences, for Medical Sciences, for Law, for Music, for Technology and for Inter-disciplinary and Applied Sciences. Each Board shall be constituted as follows :

Board of Research Studies (Law) :

(i) Dean and Head of the Department concerned; and
(ii) Three persons nominated by the Academic Council;
Each Board shall elect a Chairman from among its own members who shall hold office for a period of two years.

Type of Degree (Diploma/Degree) : Degree
Type of Course : Research
Duration of Course : Minimum 2 years maximum 5 years
Venue For Teaching : Faculty of Law, Chhatra Marg (North Campus), University of Delhi,
Delhi-110 007.

Law Centre-II, A.R.S.D. College Bldg. Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi- 110 021.

Parent Department : Department of Law
Parent Faculty : Faculty of LAW

Subjects : Research can be pursued in any subject of Law provided subject offered is one which can be profitably pursued under the supervisor of University and candidate possesses the requisite qualification

Subject Syllabus : The candidate has to submit synopses containing details, on the topic chosen by him/her alongwith the application, which shall be scrutinized by the Professors/Readers in the department. The Head of Department after satisfying himself/herself will recommend application for research work and the name of Supervisor.

Scheme of Grading:
Degree is awarded on the basis of A) Recommendation of the examiners appointed by the University and B) Viva-voce Eamination.

A. Recommendation of the examiners appointed by the University.

The examiners shall be free to consult each other before submitting their respective reports. They will also be free to get clarification about structure of the thesis, sources of data and some general issues directly from the Supervisor or the joint, Supervisors, as the case may be.

The examiners may recommend that the degree be awarded or that the degree be awarded subject to satisfactory Viva-Voce test on issues connected with the thesis or that the thesis be rejected or that the thesis be re-submitted to which effect they may make such suggestions as they deem fit for the improvement of the thesis. In the event of two of the examiners recommending the award of the degree and the third examiner recommending rejection or suggesting improvement of the thesis with a view to its re-submission, the thesis, on the recommendation of the Committee of the Academic Council provided for in Clause 16 hereinafter, shall be referred to a fourth examiner to be selected by the Vice-Chancellor from out of the original panel of examiners The fourth examiner so appointed shall not be informed of the recommendations of the other three examiners. The recommendations of the fourth examiner shall be final.

The Viva-Voce test, if not already held in the manner as aforesaid provided, shall be conducted before the thesis is finally approved for the award of the degree in accordance with the rules prescribed in this behalf.

The candidate, who is required to resubmit the thesis, must do so within one year from the date of supply of comments of the examiners to him by the University, unless extension is specially given by the Board.

A re-submitted thesis may only be examined by the original Board of Examiners, unless they or any of them are unable or unwilling to act and may only be re-submitted once.

The reports of? the examiners shall be sent by the Controller of Examinations to the Head of the Department concerned, who in consultation with the Supervisor/joint Supervisors, as the case may be, shall prepare: (i) summary of the reports and submit the same alongwith the original reports to the Vice-Chancellor for his consideration, (ii) a summary of the technical part of the reports of examiners to be made available to the candidate in case the thesis is either required to be resubmitted or is accepted for the award of the degree. If the reports of the examiners are not unanimous, the same shall be placed before a Committee of? the Academic Council consisting of the Vice-Chancellor/Pro-Vice Chancellor, Chairman of the Board of Research Studies for Humanities, Chairman of the Board of Research Studies for Sciences, Dean of the Faculty concerned, Head of the Department concerned, the Supervisor/ Joint Supervisors concerned and one Professor nominated by the Vice Chancellor.

It shall be the function of the Committee after considering the reports of examiners to make recommendations to refer a thesis to a fourth examiner in terms of Clause 15 or for acceptance or rejection of a thesis, as the case may be, or require a candidate to revise and submit his/her thesis. In case the Committee decides to require a candidate to revise and resubmit the thesis in terms of Clause 15, such a decision need not be reported to the Academic Council.

B. Viva-voce Examination

The viva voce examination be held if all the reports were unanimously favourable;
In case the examiner conducting the viva voce examination is not satisfied with the performance of the candidate at the viva voce examination, he may recommend

that the candidate be given more time (to be specified by the examiner) to prepare himself for the viva voce examination and reappear in the same. The viva voce examination must be conducted by the same examiner again unless his services were not available;
that the thesis be rejected. In such an eventuality the examiner should specify reason on the basis of which he/she recommends rejection of the thesis;

In the case of an examiner recommending rejection of the thesis as at 6 (ii) above, the matter in the normal course should be considered by the Committee of the Academic Council to recommend further action in the matter on the merits of the case

Admission Eligibility :
A candidate for admission to the course for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Faculty of Law must have obtained a Master?s Degree of this University or any other University established by law for the time being in force or any other degree recognised as equivalent thereto, in the subject in which the candidate wishes to pursue a course of research, or in a subject allied thereto, with at least 50% marks or equivalent grading :

Provided that the Board of Research Studies, on the recommendations of the Head of the Department, may consider cases of students having less than 50% marks in the Master?s Degree examination, who showed otherwise a positive evidence of their capability to do research work, each such case being considered on its own merits.

The candidate shall apply for admission to the University stating his qualifications and the subject he proposes to investigate enclosing a statement on any work he may have done in the subject.

Transitory Provisions

Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause 3, relating to minimum qualifications for admission to the course for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Teachers of the University of Delhi and its Colleges, teachers of other Universities as also teachers of the foreign Universities holding substantive appointments before the promulgation of the amended Clause 3 of the above Ordinance, may be considered for admission to the course for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy on the basis of qualifications laid down for enrollment to the course prior to amendment of this Ordinance.

Other Info:

1. Every candidate shall pursue his research in Delhi, but he may be permitted by the Board, on the recommendation of the Supervisor, to be absent from Delhi for ordinarily not more than three academic terms, on the ground that it is in the interest of his research that he should work elsewhere :
No candidate shall undertake any employment during the period of his study without the permission of the Board of Research Studies concerned.

No candidate shall, without the previous permission of Board of Research Studies concerned, join any other course of study or appear at any other examination conducted by the University or a public body.

A candidate may, not later than one year after his admission, modify the scheme of his subject with the approval of the Board.

A candidate, after completion of research, shall submit the thesis to the University at any time during, the second week and the last seven days of any month.

The Supervisor of the candidates shall, a month and a half in advance of submission of the thesis, forward seven copies of abstract of the thesis including chapter of contents and a brief description of? the topics discussed for consideration by the Committee of Courses and Studies to the Head of the Department concerned, under an intimation to the Controller of Examination, University of Delhi, Delhi. The Head of the Department shall take immediate steps for convening a meeting of the Committee of Courses and Studies to consider appointment of examiners. The Supervisor or Joint Supervisor of the thesis, as the case may be, if he/she/they is/are not the members of the Committee of Courses and Studies, shall be invited at the said meeting of the Committee of Courses and Studies for consultation in regard to recommending the panel of external examiners who shall be eminent scholars and specialists in the area to which thesis relates. The recommendations of the Committee of Courses and Studies shall be reviewed by a Committee of the Board of Research Studies concerned and the re-commendations considered by the Academic Council. The examiners shall be appointed by the Executive Council. Three examiners out of the panel approved shall be appointed for each thesis.

Where a thesis is not submitted within the stipulated period as aforesaid, the Supervisor shall state the reasons for delay for consideration by the Board of Research Studies.

The candidate shall not be permitted to submit his thesis for the degree unless his Supervisor is satisfied that the thesis presented is worthy of consideration for the award of the Ph.D. Degree.

Provided that the application for submission of the thesis will also be countersigned by the Head of the Department concerned.

The candidate shall supply 4 printed or typed copies of his thesis which shall comply with the following conditions.

It must be a piece of research work, characterised either by the discovery of new facts or by a-fresh interpretation of facts or theories; in either case it should evince the candidate?s capacity for critical examination and judgment. It shall be satisfactory so far as its literary presentation is concerned.

The candidate shall indicate how far the thesis embodies the results of his own research or observations and in what respects his investigations appear to him to advance the study of the subject of the thesis.

The candidate may incorporate in his thesis the contents of any work which he may have published on the subject and shall inform the examiners if he had done, but he shall not submit in his thesis any work for which a degree has been conferred on him by this or any other University.