Former CJI BR Gavai joins NALSAR as Chair Professor

Former Chief Justice of India BR Gavai has joined NALSAR University as Chair Professor. He declined a salary and delivered a lecture on development and equality, while also inaugurating the Ambedkar Chair office to support academic research.

Hyderabad: NALSAR University of Law students and research scholars are set to learn lessons on law directly from the former Chief Justice of India, as Justice BR Gavai has joined the university as Chair Professor. After retiring in November 2025, Justice Gavai accepted the position of Chair Professor at NALSAR in December 2025.

During his first visit to the university in the capacity of Chair Professor here on Tuesday, Justice Gavai said, “When this offer was extended to me by NALSAR, I accepted it with a simple condition that I would not take any salary. I felt that no monetary consideration can equal the value of being associated, even in a small way, with the legacy of Dr Ambedkar.”

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Delivering the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Lecture titled “Sustainable Development and Substantive Equality: A Constitutional Dialogue,” Justice Gavai offered a reflective engagement with the relationship between development and equality within the constitutional framework.

He posed a foundational question: whether development can be sustainable if it does not incorporate substantive equality, and whether the promise of equality can be realised without addressing material and structural inequalities.

During the visit, he also inaugurated the office space designated for the functioning of the Ambedkar Chair, formally operationalising the institutional infrastructure established to support its academic and research activities.