Prof Madhava Menon, Ram Jethmalani honoured at XVII NLSIU Convocation

The twenty-seventh Convocation of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) was held in Bangalore today.

Among the dignitaries present at the Convocation were Chancellor of the NLSIU, Justice SA Bobde, former Chief Justice of India Rajendra Babu, and sitting Supreme Court judges Justices NV Ramana, Mohan Shantanagoudar, S Abdul Nazeer, Deepak Gupta, Vineet Saran and MR Shah. Also present were Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court Justice Abhay S Oka and other judges of the High Court. Prof KRS Murthy, former Director of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, was the Chief Guest.

Newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU Prof Sudhir Krishnaswamy congratulated the graduating students. During his address, he paid tribute to the founder of NLSIU, Prof Madhava Menon, who passed away this year. He said,

“India lost its greatest institution builder of the late 20th century.”

Tribute was also paid to Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani, who passed away earlier this month. Prof Krishnaswamy credited Jethmalani with having played an active role in the setting up of NLSIU.

The new Vice-Chancellor also made a reference to environmental activist Greta Thunberg in his speech.

“If Prof Menon were here today, I have no doubt that he would have expected graduates of this University to be at the forefront of tackling the social and moral problems of the day. He would expect many of you to lead the complex transformation that the climate breakdown poses for our society, especially in the developing world.”

Chairman of the Bar Council of India Manan Kumar Mishra also addressed the graduating students. He said,

“Today, it is with great pride I can say that NLSIU has risen to one of the top spots in the field of legal education, not only in the country, but in the whole world…We hope to continue in the same vein and with more active participation of the Bar Council of India, produce the best brains here.”

He also urged the aspiring lawyers to opt for litigation as a career choice.

“The idea behind establishing NLUs and the five-year course was to get good lawyers for the litigation idea. Unfortunately, what is shocking and painful is that majority of products of NLUs prefer to face the corporates. Let me assure you that it is only in the initial few years that you will face challenges and teething problems. Once you gear up, you will find this profession to be the best one.”

Prof KRS Murthy delivered the Convocation Address.