Bengaluru, August 16: Students and alumni of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, have publicly registered their opposition to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra attending their upcoming convocation. The collective opposition follows a controversial, now-retracted directive by the statutory legal body attempting to halt the professional enrolment of 2026 law graduates from Hyderabad’s NALSAR University of Law after they questioned the choice of chief guest for their own ceremony.
A joint statement released on August 15 and endorsed by 165 graduating students of the Class of 2026, 409 current scholars, and 128 alumni condemned the initial proceedings initiated against NALSAR scholars and faculty. The signatories maintained that despite the regulatory body recalling its enrolment ban and closing proceedings, the initial action set a dangerous precedent against academic autonomy.
“We are aware that the BCI has closed all proceedings against NALSAR. However, the fact that such unconstitutional and illegal ‘proceedings’ can be initiated by a statutory body against students and faculty members of a public university in the first place does not alter the nature or the larger impact of such actions or dilute the responsibility of the Chairman and the BCI,” the NLSIU community declared.
The opposition underscores a growing debate over fundamental speech rights across premier national law institutes. Addressing the original conflict from the bench on August 14, CJI Surya Kant pulled up the BCI for issuing the punitive directive, asserting that students maintain a constitutional right to dissent and engage in peaceful discourse.
“It’s a dialogue between students and me,” CJI Surya Kant stated while criticizing the BCI’s interference in campus matters.
Despite the apex court’s observations, NLSIU scholars asserted that statutory bodies must tender an unconditional apology to NALSAR’s academic community. They maintained that punitive measures targeted at student speech generate a wider chilling effect across higher educational institutions nationwide.
