CJI Surya Kant: What began as a student objection to a convocation guest spiralled into a constitutional flashpoint, until a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant intervened to pull the Bar Council of India back from the brink.
How the Row Began
Around seventy NALSAR graduates objected to CJI Surya Kant attending their convocation as chief guest, citing his earlier oral remarks on student protests. The BCI responded by freezing enrolment of the entire 2026 graduating batch on Thursday, before narrowing the order on Friday to target only alleged “instigators,” and finally withdrawing it altogether by Friday morning.
DON'T MISS
The Court Steps In
Amid the confusion, a bench led by CJI Surya Kant issued notice to the BCI and restrained all state bar councils from taking punitive action against NALSAR students. The bench held that students have a fundamental right to protest peacefully, and that a regulatory body had no business interfering in what was essentially an internal university matter.
University Pushes Back Too
NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao said the university would examine whether the BCI’s demand for an inquiry even fell within its constitutional powers under local governance regulations, adding institutional weight to the students’ objections.
BCI’s Retreat
Announcing the final climbdown, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra urged graduates to “voice your opinions freely, but with respect and institutional decorum,” calling the top judicial office the country’s “collective pride.”
The episode adds to CJI Surya Kant’s track record on free expression, from his past rulings safeguarding the right to speech in politically sensitive cases to keeping India’s sedition law in abeyance.
