The 23rd Law Commission of India is hosting a National Conference on “Co-operative Federalism and Law Reforms: National and State Perspectives” on 22 October 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, bringing together representatives of State Law Commissions and other equivalent bodies, eminent jurists, former judges, legal scholars, policymakers and members of the Bar and academia from across the country.

The Vice-President of India, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, will inaugurate the Conference, in the presence of Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law & Justice.

The senior leadership of the 23rd Law Commission of India—Chairperson, Justice (Retd.) Dinesh Maheshwari; Member, Prof. D.P. Verma; and Member Secretary, Dr. Anju Rathi Rana—will also be present.

The Conference will deliberate on contemporary issues relating to law reforms, co-operative federalism, constitutional governance and institutional frameworks for the effective administration of justice. It seeks to strengthen coordination among States and institutions engaged in law reform, while respecting State autonomy and ensuring that reforms remain responsive to both national and regional requirements.

The theme draws from India’s constitutional distribution of law-making powers across the Union, State and Concurrent Lists in the Seventh Schedule. The Conference will consider how the Union and the States can work together on legal reform within this constitutional framework, and how coordination between the Law Commission of India, State Law Commissions and equivalent bodies can be strengthened.

The first technical session, “Reforms in Law: Needs and Methods”, will examine the need for continuous review and reform of laws in response to social, economic and technological change, as well as the methods and institutional processes through which such reform may be undertaken. The session will also consider justice-oriented and accessible legal reform; adaptive legislation and periodic statutory review; the role of India’s traditions of Nyaya, Kartavya and Lok Kalyan to develop context-sensitive reform; research-led law reform; and the relationship between law reform, social harmony and Viksit Bharat.

The second technical session, “Allocated Powers, Shared Goals: Drafting the Future with Collaborative Jurisprudence”, will examine law reform within a system of divided legislative powers, including avenues for greater consultation and coordination between national and State institutions while ensuring that State legislation remains responsive to local needs.

The Conference is intended to provide a forum for National and State experiences to inform a more coordinated approach to law reform, and for participating institutions to identify areas in which sustained consultation and cooperation can improve the process and implementation of legal reform.

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Samrat/Pranab/ Sagar

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