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Hyderabad , Oct. 1

THE Nalsar University of Law here is firming up plans to go global and offer courses in corporate law and insurance soon.

"We are thinking of having a law school campus at the BITS Dubai Centre and have initiated discussions", Prof Ranbir Singh, Director of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Nalsar) told newspersons here on Wednesday. The objective was to provide a high quality law programme to serve the needs of the large non-resident Indian (NRI) community.

The five-year young law university for whose first convocation on October 3, the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is coming, has students from 6 foreign countries and 24 States, with 50 per cent being girls, Prof. Ranbir Singh said.

While both a master's degree and a diploma have been planned in corporate law studies, a diploma in insurance was in the offing. Similarly, Nalsar has also tied up exchange programmes with the Griffith University in Australia and some in the UK and Canada, he said. Nalsar has also joined hands with the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) to organise the first conference on the "Impact of New Biology on Justice Delivery Systems" during October 3-5 in Hyderabad. The President, is again slated to inaugurate the meeting on October 3.

Speaking about the conference, Dr Syed Hasnain, Director, CDFD, said there was an urgent need to create a genetic database of criminals in the country based on their deoxyribonucleacacid (DNA) profile. It has been observed that whenever DNA is presented as evidence, the conviction rates have gone up to 90 per cent.

In contrast, the average conviction rate in the normal system was around 10 per cent. The CDFD has been getting one case per day on average to use DNA fingerprinting. It had so far addressed 1000 cases. Since, the lab cannot handle large numbers, expertise has been created in the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratories (CFSL) also. The databases should clearly address privacy issues, he said.

In this background, the centre was forming a DNA profiling advisory committee (D-PAC), which can go into relevant issues, help in drafting a suitable law which would incorporate the new biology tools for securing evidence etc. Dr Hasnain said.

There is also a need to look into the new legal rights issues that could emerge with children born to surrogate mothers, cloned babies in the near future.

The Indian Law also needs to incorporate DNA as evidence in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to give momentum. At present, DNA evidence is used as an expert advise by courts, he said.

Issues that are to be discussed include DNA fingerprinting, intellectual property rights, and ethical, legal, social implications. Well known scientists from India and abroad, legal experts, IPR lawyers and biotech industry leaders are expected to participate.

The three-day conference will come out with a "Hyderabad Declaration", which would be released by the former Chief Justice of India, Mr Justice A.M. Ahmadi.

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