The Bar Council of India (BCI) has withdrawn an order directing state bar councils to defer the enrolment of any student of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) who opposed the participation of Chief Justice Surya Kant at the university’s convocation. However, an inquiry into those who were ‘principally instrumental’ in a campaign against the chief justice’s participation will continue.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has made a significant move by withdrawing an order issued earlier, which directed state bar councils to defer the enrolment of any student of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) graduating in 2026 who opposed the participation of Chief Justice Surya Kant at the university’s convocation. However, an inquiry into those who were ‘principally instrumental’ in a campaign against the chief justice’s participation will continue.
According to a communication addressed to state bar councils and NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao by BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, the university has been asked to submit a factual report within three days about the persons involved in mobilising the ‘organised campaign’ against the CJI’s participation. The report should include a complete copy of the ‘representation, petition, memorandum or other communication submitted to the university by the students’, as well as a full list of the signatories to the representations.
Mishra has also asked NALSAR to separately identify those who were involved in initiating the campaign through press, social media, or mobilising any ‘call for boycott, obstruction, disruption, or organised non-participation in the convocation’ or any other programme connected with the CJI.
In response to the order, political party Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) had criticized the directive as ‘grossly disproportionate’ and threatened protests if it was not rescinded. Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the CJP, questioned the council's actions, stating, ‘What if all legal cockroaches come together?’.
In a statement, CJP Spokesperson Saurav Das condemned the action, stating that students cannot be ‘collectively penalized for expressing dissent over a ceremonial invitation’. Das threatened protests outside the Bar Council’s office and Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra’s official residence by law students, advocates, senior lawyers, and ‘well-meaning young cockroaches’, if the order was not withdrawn.
NALSAR had extended an invitation to the CJI for the upcoming convocation despite student appeals to reconsider the decision, citing Kant’s response to a petition alleging that police had used excessive force against protesters in Delhi on July 20.
Source:
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