CHENNAI Governor awards degrees at 10th convocation of law university SC judge Gavai and HC Chief Justice Sahi address graduates
CHENNAIGovernor awards degrees at 10th convocation of law university
Legal CorrespondentCHENNAI 02 FEBRUARY 2020 01:16 ISTUPDATED: 02 FEBRUARY 2020 01:16 IST
SC judge Gavai and HC Chief Justice Sahi address graduates
Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Saturday presided over the tenth convocation of the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, also in his capacity as its chancellor, and awarded degrees to 2,938 candidates, of whom 2,713 received degrees in person, and 225 in absentia. The degrees were awarded in the presence of Supreme Court judge Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, Madras High Court Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam.
In his convocation address, Justice Gavai said lawyers serve as a crucial interface between those who seek justice and those who deliver it. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the learned advocates to persevere till their clients get complete justice, he said. “As members of the legal profession… you must ensure that the doors of justice always remain open for the aggrieved, downtrodden, indigent, exploited, vulnerable and the marginalised,” he stressed.
He also recalled noted jurist Mohammadali Carim Chagla as having said that being a lawyer was a profession and not a trade or business. “The distinction between the two is deep and fundamental. In business, your sole object is to make money. In the legal profession, making money is merely incidental. You have traditions to which you have to be true… service to society and your fellow men has to be the dominant motive underlying your work.”
Advertising
Advertising
Earlier, Chief Justice Sahi, in his special address, said personal behaviour, maintaining a high ethical standard, and exhibiting a strong character were some of the primal facets which had to be observed by every lawyer. “I say this, that in contemporary times, even though it still remains the noble profession, law is looked up with respect, but unfortunately, at times, in public opinion, lawyers are suspects,” he pointed out.
Urging lawyers to improve upon such opinions by their professional conduct, he said their intellect should be guided more by common sense, logic and applicability of law to life, rather than prowess of superior intelligence, that might lead only to theoretical heights without pragmatic results. “Your job is the most difficult in the world, and that is the art of persuading the human mind to believe that whatever you are saying is the best.”
“Today’s society, as civilized as it is today, is still strewn with strife, where tensions mount high due to rival thoughts — be it the issue of thickness of a pin or the width of the galaxies. A lawyer, therefore, has to train himself and his mind to keep within the confines of the cause, but at the same time, not let his imagination be curtailed, as a petty problem today might become a universal problem tomorrow.”
“Illustrations are not far to see whether the throwing of a paper on the roadside is only a petty nuisance or the dumping of nuclear garbage in the seas is a far greater threat to humanity. Lawyers and members of the legal profession, in whatever field they are, their devotion of thought process has to travel the entire horizon, conquer mirages, and at times, even travel into the unknown,” he said. The university’s vice-chancellor, T.S.N. Sastry, also spoke.
