Professor Srikrishna Deva Rao - Vice Chancellor
Professor Srikrishna Deva Rao is a teacher and scholar in criminal law and access to justice.
Prof. Rao is currently Vice Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad. Before joining NALSAR he was VC of NLU Delhi for two years and also served as VC of NLU Odisha for six years.
Prof. Rao was a Fulbright Nehru Alumni. He had the distinction of working with five prestigious law universities in India for the past three decades: National Law School, Bangalore; NALSAR, Hyderabad; Gujarat National Law University, Gandhi Nagar; NLU Delhi and NLU Odisha.
His major areas of research are in criminal law and criminal justice administration, where he has contributed to significant research in preventing custodial deaths. The Supreme Court of India borrowed his ideas in the landmark, D.K. Basu case in 1997.
The Land Rights Paralegal Programme of Andhra Pradesh state was an offshoot of his course on ‘Legal aid and Public Interest Litigation’ at NALSAR, Hyderabad in 2003. He developed a specialized Diploma in Paralegal Practice at Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2009.
He was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle in 2012 and School of Oriental & African Studies, SOAS, London in 2013.
Professor Rao is Chairman of the ‘Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws’ constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in 2020. He was also a Member of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Committee in 2018 to design the curriculum for four mandatory clinical courses. He is currently Member of the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DLSLA).
Prof. Rao received the highest award in the field of Criminology - "Kumarappa - Reckless Award" for his outstanding contribution in criminal justice education in India by the Indian Society of Criminology (ISC), Chennai in February 2020.
Prof. Rao will be a part of the Indian delegation to present the Universal Periodic Report (UPR) of Government of India at the UNHCR Council at Geneva in November 2022.