New Delhi: While Hyderabad’s NALSAR University of Law has invited Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant as chief guest for its convocation ceremony amid objections by a section of students, at least two other convocations and a memorial lecture have been mysteriously cancelled, postponed or altered with little or no explanation.
These are the HR Khanna Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, and the convocation ceremonies at Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Sonipat’s OP Jindal Global University.
When contacted, the CJI’s office confirmed that it had received such an invite from NALSAR, but said it was yet to respond. ThePrint has also reached out to the NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao’s office and an OP Jindal Global University representative for comment via calls and email. This report will be updated if or when they respond.
A day after a CJI Surya Kant-led bench refused to grant an urgent hearing on alleged police excesses during the 20 July Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led march to Parliament, NALSAR’s Student Bar Council issued a statement on 23 July supporting Sonam Wangchuk during his hunger strike, and voicing concern over the broader sense of opacity in India’s education and examination systems.
On 9 August, The Hindu reported: “The representation, endorsed by some 70 students, including members of the Students Bar Council, read: ‘As law students, our concern is specific to our graduating batch. A convocation should reflect the university’s commitment to constitutional rights, access to justice, and reasoned engagement with grievances. Receiving our degrees from a dignitary whose recent public conduct, as reported, appears dismissive of serious allegations of police brutality against protesting citizens sits uneasily with the values we have been taught at NALSAR’.”
Through repeated representations over the next two days, NALSAR students supported the right to peaceful protest, including Wangchuk’s hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, describing it as a legitimate and sincere form of democratic dissent.
The report also indicated that the students would continue to demand answers from the university and, if their concerns remained unaddressed, hold a protest after giving the administration a week’s notice.
NALSAR is yet to announce a date for its convocation. Meanwhile, the Bar Council of India (BCI) Thursday issued a six-page order directing all state bar councils not to enrol 2026 NALSAR Hyderabad graduates. However, a withdrawal came soon after, following widespread criticism of the order in which the BCI cited an ongoing inquiry into what it termed an organised campaign to oppose participation of CJI Surya Kant at the law school’s convocation.
Meanwhile, OP Jindal Global University had invited the CJI to preside over its convocation on 26 July. The event was ultimately presided over by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, with no official explanation for the change.
The HR Khanna Memorial Lecture, scheduled for 28 July at the India International Centre in New Delhi with the CJI as chief guest, was also abruptly postponed. The event, set to examine the ‘The need to repeal the Tenth Schedule’ and revisit the legacy of the ADM Jabalpur case (in which Justice Khanna wrote the lone dissenting judgement), was shelved without explanation.
Former CJI Sajiv Khanna was supposed to preside over the lecture, with senior advocate Arvind P. Datar as speaker. ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta was to moderate the panel discussion that would have followed, with former Chhattisgarh Chief Justice Yatindra Singh, senior advocates C.S. Vaidyanathan and Rajiv Nayar, and NLSIU Bengaluru Vice-Chancellor Sudhir Krishnaswamy as speakers.
The organisers announced the deferment, offering no new date. They did not indicate any connection to CJI Surya Kant or the protests, nor was any official reason given for the cancellation.
TISS Mumbai also followed with a public notice on 31 July, announcing the postponement of its 86th convocation, citing “unforeseen circumstances” just two days before it was scheduled. Neither the institute nor the notice named the CJI as chief guest.
The statement emphasised the “long‑term interest of the Institute”, highlighting the well-being of students and faculty while underscoring the need to carry forward the institute’s legacy with dignity and respect. It also stated that revised dates would be announced soon.
The CJP movement began as a satirical response to a courtroom remark by CJI Surya Kant comparing some unemployed youth to “cockroaches”, while he was pulling up a lawyer seeking the designation of senior advocate.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)