At the NLSIU convocation students once refused, CJI Surya Kant tells graduates to hear before judging

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant presided over the 34th convocation of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru on Saturday, at a ceremony that had been called off in August after students and alumni objected to his attending.

Speaking as the university’s Chancellor, he urged the graduates to listen to those they disagree with and to hear people out before judging them. “Each time we listen to perspectives that diverge from ours, we are reminded that the law itself is a living conversation,” he said.

He warned the new lawyers that the road ahead would be hard. “The legal profession is not for the faint of heart,” he said. “It is your relentless pursuit of honesty that will cement your professional reputation.”

A ceremony called off, then restored

The university had planned the convocation for 12 September but cancelled it on 27 August, citing “unavoidable circumstances” and offering degrees in absentia. More than 700 students and alumni had objected to the presence of the Chief Justice and Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, after the BCI moved in August to halt the enrolment of NALSAR University of Law’s graduating batch when students there opposed the CJI attending their own convocation. The BCI withdrew that direction within hours.

NLSIU’s students said in a statement on 15 August that the BCI’s action was “offensive, humiliating, and a mockery of students and their struggles”. According to a timeline shared by the graduating batch, the university then made the ceremony conditional on a public, unanimous statement inviting the Chief Justice, which they declined.

The Chief Justice was reported to have met the students afterwards, and a majority voted to hold the ceremony with him present on the understanding that Mishra would not attend. Theatre personality Arundhati Nag was listed as chief guest.