Bengaluru:
Students and alumni of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), one of India’s leading law schools, have opposed the invitation to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra to the university’s upcoming convocation ceremony.
The opposition comes days after a major controversy at another premier institution, the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law in Hyderabad, where the BCI briefly ordered that students from the 2026 graduating batch should not be enrolled as advocates after some of them objected to Chief Justice Kant being invited as chief guest at their convocation.
The BCI later withdrew the order, and Mishra apologised to law students, saying their “dignity, independence of thought and legitimate concerns” must be respected.
In a letter on Saturday, students and alumni of NLSIU said they stood in “unconditional solidarity” with their counterparts at NALSAR and criticised both the BCI chairman’s conduct and the CJI’s proposed participation in their own convocation.
The student body said that the issue was not simply about who attends a graduation ceremony but whether students at India’s leading law schools should be free to disagree with powerful institutions and public officials without fearing consequences for their professional futures.
“We stand in unconditional solidarity with our fellow students at NALSAR who have shown exemplary courage and moral conviction in speaking truth to power,” the statement said.
The NLSIU students and alumni have demanded an unconditional apology from the BCI to the NALSAR student and faculty community.
They accused the BCI of attempting to infringe students’ fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. They also called on the BCI to explain how its official letterhead came to be used by its chairman in connection with the controversial order.
NLSIU and the BCI have a long institutional relationship with the university’s governing bodies including both the Chief Justice of India and the BCI chairman. At NLSIU’s 2025 convocation, Chief Justice Surya Kant, then a Supreme Court judge, presided over the ceremony while Mishra delivered the welcome address.
The latest dispute therefore places two of the country’s most powerful legal institutions – the Supreme Court and the statutory regulator of the legal profession – at the centre of a debate with students of one of India’s most influential law schools.
The NALSAR Episode
The dispute began at NALSAR after a section of its graduating class objected to the university’s proposal to invite Justice Kant as chief guest for its convocation.
The students’ objections related to remarks attributed to the Chief Justice during a request for urgent listing of a petition alleging police brutality during protests led by the Cockroach Janata Party at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Chief Justice Surya Kant was quoted as saying, “Don’t waste our time.” He later clarified that he had not refused to hear the petition, but had asked that it be filed in the proper manner.
On Thursday, the council, headed Mishra, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, issued an order directing state bar councils not to enrol members of NALSAR’s 2026 graduating batch until further directions.
The order argued that a law student who showed no regard or respect for the country’s highest judicial office could not be expected to become a “responsible or sensible advocate, teacher or a judge”.
It immediately triggered a controversy. Hours after issuing the order, Mishra sought to distance the council from any suggestion that all NALSAR students should be punished.
In a post on X, he said the “vast majority” of students were innocent and should not suffer for the alleged misconduct of a few. He said action would be taken after an inquiry. Later that night, the BCI withdrew the order in its entirety.
