Hyderabad: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant is set to be the chief guest at the convocation of the NALSAR University of Law here, despite opposition from a section of students who have urged the administration to reconsider the invitation.
The office of NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Prof Srikrishna Deva Rao confirmed the CJI’s participation to The Indian Express. The dates for the convocation, however, are yet to be decided.
About 450 of the university’s 1,400 students have objected to the CJI being invited as chief guest, citing his remarks in connection with a petition alleging police excesses during protests by NEET aspirants last month.
The first representation was submitted on July 23 by 70 members of the outgoing LLB batch. By July 25, around 380 students from the batches of 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031 had expressed solidarity with the statement and submitted separate letters to the administration.
On July 22, the Supreme Court declined to initiate suo motu proceedings on allegations of police excesses during the July 20 crackdown on student protesters in Delhi. When a lawyer submitted that videographic evidence of police action was available, the CJI orally declined to examine the footage, remarking that the court’s time “should not be wasted.”
In their letter, written a day after the remarks, the outgoing batch said their concerns arose from the bench’s refusal to allow urgent listing of the plea concerning police action against protesters.
A convocation, they wrote, was meant to be a moment when the university’s own values, including its commitment to constitutional rights and access to justice, were visibly reflected in the choices it made, and receiving degrees from a dignitary whose recent conduct appeared dismissive of serious allegations of police brutality sat uncomfortably with what they had been taught to value at NALSAR.
Students from several batches wrote to the administration in similar terms over the following days. The 2029 batch said it agreed with the concerns raised by the graduating batch, adding that the representation raised questions extending beyond the interests of one graduating class and touching on the constitutional ethos the university sought to embody.
The 2028 batch expressed what it described as vehement opposition to the CJI’s presence at the convocation.
The 2030 batch was more direct, citing the remark about not having time to watch the videos and referring to an earlier statement attributed to the CJI describing sections of the youth in disparaging terms. Such conduct from the highest office of justice in the country, the students wrote, did not embody what the Constitution stood for or align with the values NALSAR had stood by through its history.
This post was last modified on August 12, 2026 4:09 pm