BCI had no business interfering': CJI Surya Kant on NALSAR row
Hyderabad: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Friday, August 14, said the Bar Council of India (BCI) had no business interfering in the NALSAR University of Law row, making it clear that the matter of students protesting his attendance at their convocation was between him and the students.
“They had no business to interfere. The students have written a letter to me, and it is between me and the students. There is a dialogue between us,” the CJI said, hearing a petition against the BCI’s action.
A bench led by the CJI, along with justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, restrained the BCI and all state bar councils from taking any punitive or criminal action against students or faculty of any national law university over the row and issued notice to the BCI, directing it to file its counter-affidavit within two weeks.
The CJI’s remarks came hours after BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, announced that the Council had decided to close its proceedings against NALSAR’s 2026 graduating batch, following an examination of representations from senior advocates, Bar members, students, and members of the public, and a conclusion that the batch had no role in any disturbance.
The BCI had earlier written to all State Bar Councils on August 13, directing them to withhold enrolment of NALSAR’s outgoing batch, before withdrawing the order the same day. The original letter, addressed to the university, had also sought an inquiry report identifying those responsible for the students’ campaign. It followed a representation by around 70 students of the 2026 batch to the vice-chancellor, registrar and faculty asking them to reconsider inviting the CJI to the convocation.
NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao has since written to the BCI saying the question of whether the university can lawfully conduct such an inquiry will be placed before its Executive Council, the university’s highest decision-making body, to assess whether it falls within the university’s constitutional powers.
During Friday’s hearing, senior advocate K Parameshwar, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the BCI had no business dealing with matters internal to a university and that its action violated students’ fundamental right to freedom of speech. The CJI, recalling his own days as a student activist, said students had a right to protest so long as it remained lawful and peaceful, and that the court would not allow them to be stopped from raising their voice.
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