Students of the NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, got fulsome praise from Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court on Sunday, as he called them “brilliant, bold and brave”.
He was delivering the valedictory address at the 19th NALSAR-Justice BR Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition. It was during my tenure as the chancellor that Professor (Srikrishna Deva) Rao was appointed as the vice-chancellor. I must say that he has led the university admirably. In August, a section of NALSAR’s graduating batch objected to the proposed invitation to CJI Surya Kant as chief guest at the convocation, reportedly over the CJI’s remarks during court proceedings concerning alleged police excesses against protesters in Delhi. He also directed Rao to submit a report identifying students, faculty members, research scholars, alumni and others allegedly involved in organising the campaign. It also held later that the BCI had no statutory authority to take disciplinary action against law students and declared its communications concerning the NALSAR graduates to be without authority of law.
Justice Bhuyan served as NALSAR’s ex-officio chancellor during his tenure as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court in 2022-23. Then, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra directed state bar councils not to enrol any graduate from NALSAR’s 2026 batch until further orders. On August 14, the Supreme Court directed that no punitive action be taken against NALSAR students or faculty members in connection with the campaign.
READ | “Very Distressing To See…”: Top Court Judge Slams Police Crackdown At Jantar Mantar “To the faculty members, you have performed your duties admirably; you have done what a university teacher is expected to do…The vice-chancellor should also not be left out. He has not let the teachers and the students down,” he said. Justice Bhuyan’s remarks on the students came at the close of an address on the right to vote, in which he said any process disenfranchising millions of citizens was “intrinsically arbitrary” and that “no court can condone it”.
