NALSAR To Host M.K. Nambyar Memorial Lecture Series 2026 Featuring Prof. Dinesha Samararatne

This year's lecture series is titled “Constitutional Governance in South Asia: Perspectives from Sri Lanka” The lectures will examine key questions of constitutional governance in South Asia, drawing on Sri Lanka's constitutional experience and situating it within broader Global South perspectives on constitutionalism. The lectures this year will be conducted virtually in order to ensure greater accessibility for students across law schools, as well as legal practitioners and academics.

The lecture series follows a long-form format designed to facilitate deeper engagement with complex issues in constitutional law and governance.

Lecture Schedule

Session 1: What are guarantor institutions, and why do they matter?

5-7 PM, 22 March 2026

The first lecture will draw on Sri Lanka's experience with the design and operationalization od guarantor institutions such as the Human Rights Commission, with a special focus on the doctrine of separation of powers, as developed in Sri Lanka. The lecture will identify and develop insights from Sri Lanka's experience, and examine what distinct aspects we can identify in constitutionalism, 'from and within' the Global South?

Session 2: Guarantor Personnel: Who, why and for what?

5-7 PM, 23 March 2026

The second lecture will consider the idea of Guarantor Personnel, the kind of persons who are required to serve on Guarantor Institutions. Drawing from the experience with Guarantor Personnel in Sri Lanka, an attempt will be made to identify the attributes that are ideal to Guarantor Personnel. The lecture will consider several ethical concepts such as public trust, independence and integrity along with the ideas of expertise and representation, as relevant to Guarantor Institutions and Guarantor Personnel.

Session 3: Doing Legal Scholarship from and within the Global South

5-7 PM, 24 March 2026

The third lecture will draw from the first two lectures and will comprise two parts. Using published scholarship relevant to the subject matter of the first two lectures, this lecture focuses on how legal scholarship may be developed 'from and within' the Global South. The first part will focus on methods of legal scholarship, with a special focus on methods more relevant to public law. These include the identification, interpretation and analysis of legal doctrine and the examination of legal institutions. It will also include a discussion on the use of socio-legal methods. The second part will focus on the unique opportunities as well as disadvantages of doing legal scholarship, using these methods, in Global South context.

Mode: Online; All participants must register for the lecture series. The joining link for the sessions will be shared via email, upon successful registration at the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeT6avjyvJDKctkkWPPpHRxNTPaaIQFbvQqXH5jdA7ddGgrPA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=100287088960937260448.

About the Speaker

Prof. Dinesha Samararatne is a Professor at the Department of Public and International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, where she has been teaching since 2005. Her research interests include judicial review, public participation in constitution-making, constitutional resilience, women and constitutional law, guarantor institutions, and Global South perspectives in comparative constitutional law.

Prof. Samararatne is a Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School and the Editor of the University of Colombo Review. In 2023, she was appointed as an independent expert to the Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka. She holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School as a Junior Fulbright Scholar and is enrolled as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

About the M.K. Nambyar SAARC Law Centre

The M.K. Nambyar SAARC Law Centre was established at NALSAR University of Law in 2003 under the patronage of Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. The Centre focuses on research, scholarship, and dialogue on Indian constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, and legal issues of shared importance across South Asia.