These days, one can meet law students from various parts of India as well as abroad at the Rural litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RlEK), Dehradun. There is a buzz of activity as these youngsters mingle with each other. Besides, the locals are understanding the finer points of the subject they are studying.
RlEK, Dehradun which has been working in the sphere of education for several decades now has the distinction of having become a national centre for legal learning. More than five hundred law interns from almost all the law universities of India and some foreign countries come to Dehradun every summer to get attached with RlEK for a minimum period of one month. This is a known fact that there is a big gap between legality and reality.
Even the foreign universities send their law interns during this internship period where they learn the spirit behind the law. While in their universities they learn letters of the law here they also learn about the gap between legality and reality and how to bridge this gap.
RlEK has developed many simple, innovative and interesting tools to make them understand the intricacies of law in a simple way. RlEK has also published many law books in local languages as well as in Braille. During this internship, the interns are made to visit the schools and teach the children, run by RlEK, for the marginalized communities like the Van Gujjar nomadic community, freed bonded labourers and children born in red light areas.
They also help to train minority communities under Nai Roshni Training Programme for six days with resource persons of PRAGATI (Sister concern of RlEK which is by the women, of the women and for the women). In one batch 60-70 male and female interns, including students of Social Work and other faculties, also come for three months in the internship programme. Punctuality, sincerity, dignity of labour, and equity as mandatory in the constitution is also inculcated in the interns. During the internship, a message of national integration and spirit of rule of law is also imparted to them.
The Supreme Court of India has also praised the efforts of Rural litigation and Entitlement Kendra in saving the environment. Justice PN Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India, had observed, “We must place on record our appreciation of the steps taken by the ‘Rural litigation and Entitlement Kendra’. But, for this move, all that has happened perhaps may not have come. Preservation of the forest and keeping the ecological balance unaffected is a task which not only Governments but also every citizen must undertake. It is a social obligation and let us remind every Indian citizen that it is his fundamental duty as enshrined in Article 51 A (G) of the Constitution.”