BENGALURU: National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru announced on Thursday that it is cancelling its Sept 12 convocation due to “unavoidable circumstances”.Students will now receive degrees in absentia either on campus or through courier.The decision comes barely weeks after hundreds of NLSIU students and alumni opposed Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant and Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra attending their convocation. The students had also supported their counterparts in Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad, over the choice of Chief Justice of India as chief guest at the event there.The Chief Justice of India is the university’s chancellor and Bar Council chairman is chairman of the general council. It is a norm that CJI attends or nominates someone for the convocation.
In an earlier statement signed by 165 graduating students, they had maintained, “Inviting persons in high office to confer degrees on students towards whom they had publicly expressed disdain and condescension is offensive, humiliating and a mockery of students and their struggles.Following this, NLSIU tried to reason out with students. However, they refused to budge.On Thursday morning, the varsity mail sent out to students said: “On Aug 3, the academic administration team had emailed the graduating students with advance notice of Sept 12 as the proposed date for the annual convocation.”“Despite our collective best efforts, due to unavoidable circumstances, we are unable to hold the 34th convocation,” it said.Later, the university sent out another mail detailing how to collect the degrees in absentia. Now, students can choose to receive certificates by courier or at campus. NLSIU hadn’t conducted a convocation during Covid years of 2020 and 2021.Asked whether the convocation was called off because of the chief guest issue, a university spokesperson said: “No. We’d like to retain the reason for cancellation as ‘unavoidable circumstances’.The decision was made in consultation with the governing bodies, chancellor, and students.”Bharat Chugh, a Supreme Court advocate, said the degree belongs to the student, not to the dignitary conferring it.“Convocation or no convocation, NLSIU batch of 2026 should celebrate this ‘in-absentia’ granted degree, with its head held high, mind without fear, and as a badge of honour,” he posted on social media platform X.
