Academic as the Chief Law Officer: Prof. Sangroula appointed Attorney General of Nepal

It is not a surprise; rather the Republic of Nepal gets a right person in a right position.

Professor Dr. Yubaraj Sangroula, the Founder-Executive Director of Kathmandu School of Law (KSL) has been appointed as the Attorney General of Nepal.

President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, has approved this appointment on 13 February. He took oath on the 14th.

Dr. Sangroula is on the Academic Committee of Dhaka-based South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS). He is also a licensed Advocate (Attorney) in Nepal having practiced in the Supreme Court.

Dr. Sangroula is now more than a name; has been a known personality and role model for a bunch of law students and young legal academics and practitioners in Bangladesh. It happens through the initiatives of the organizations like SAILS or Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP).

Dr. Sangroula is a renowned legal academic with specialization in criminal justice system and human rights; more than that he has pioneered in setting up a standard for legal and human rights education through establishing Kathmandu School of Law (KSL).

He has pioneered in organizing an annual (month-long) International Residential Course on Economic, Social and Development Rights, and Good Governance for last six years in Nepal.
A seasoned legal researcher, Dr. Sangroula has been a promoter for a pro-people legal education and justice system. He dreams of a South Asian Jurisprudence to be developed by new generation jurists, lawyers and legal academics.

His scholarship reflected in the recent publication, a thought-provoking book entitled, Jurisprudence: the Philosophy of Law- Oriental Perspective with Special Reference to Nepal (published by KSL in 2010).

Being sworn in as the Attorney General, Dr. Sangroula vows to bring reform in the Criminal Justice System in Nepal; along with enhancing capacity and skills of the public lawyers and establishing effective relations between the Office of the Attorney General and police. He wants to do this to ensure justice for the people.

Dr. Sangroula underscores need for “empowering government attorneys to make them as competent...”

Born on 11 January 1959 at Subang, Panchthar in Nepal, Dr. Sangroula has taken up teaching as his life-long mission in 1987. He has been a legal practitioner and devoted to the cause of the marginalized and disadvantaged group of people.

He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Delhi University in 2007 for his dissertation entitled, “Criminal Justice System of Nepal with Special Reference to Legal Framework and Practices of Interrogation, Extrajudicial Confession and State of Fair Trial.”

Country like Nepal shows us the way to taking up a legal academic as the Chief Law Officer of the State. This would be instrumental in shaping up the legal profession hopefully.

Developed countries like United States, legal academics and scholars are picked up as Judges and Attorneys (i.e., Advocate) and vice vie; thus academia and legal practices are mutually benefited.

Unfortunately, we, in Bangladesh, are lagging behind in this regard (even from what Nepal has done).

Nonetheless, we, in recent times, got two prominent legal academics as the Chairpersons of our Law Commission and Human Rights Commission. However, we need more blending of legal academics and practitioners for the benefit of both legal education and legal and judicial systems.

As one of my senior colleague and mentor, I know Dr. Sangroula as a Man of activism; he has vision and mission and corresponding courage and dynamism to act upon. He believes in action.
Let’s wish him all success in his new professional endeavours.

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das
LL.M. (Minn., U.S.A.), Ph.D. (Raj)
Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
E-mail: udas1971@gmail.com