Put an end to discrimination: CJI calls on educational institutions

Delivering the silver jubilee-cum-19th convocation address of the NALSAR University of Law, Justice Chandrachud said the first step to solve the issue was to recognise the problem

Hyderabad: Chief Justice of India, Justice DY Chandrachud called up on the educational institutions to put an end to discrimination by inculcating empathy.

“Incidents of suicide of students from marginalised communities are becoming common,” he said while referring to the recent incident of a Dalit student suicide at the IIT-Bombay. The issue was directly linked with the lack of empathy in educational institutions, he said.

Delivering the silver jubilee-cum-19th convocation address of the NALSAR University of Law here on Saturday, Justice Chandrachud said the first step to solve the issue was to recognise the problem. Nurturing empathy could end the culture of eliteness and exclusion.

On the National Law Universities (NLUs), the CJI said the experiment with the NLUs was to create accessible institutions focused on quality legal education but not elite institutions. However, the NLUs have been struggling to be accessible to wide sections of the society and concerns continue to rise about the entrance examination pattern of NLUs, which acts as an access barrier for students not well acquainted with English. Furthermore, any steps taken in revitalizing the entrance test would be futile, he said.

Highlighting that the idea behind creating the NLUs was not to leave behind the traditional law universities or central universities, he said the majority of judges on the bench including the Supreme Court were a product of testimonial law universities. “The NLUs should be leaders in legal education, which should help other law colleges’ grow academically. The NLUs should not work in isolation,” he said.

During the convocation, Tanvi Apte, a BA LLB (Hons) student, has bagged 13 gold medals for her academic excellence. Another student from the same course, Manjri Singh secured 10 gold medals. In all, 58 gold medals were presented to the meritorious students. A total of 258 students were conferred degrees in person.