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Bar Council of India Chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra on Saturday apologised to law students, days after the body withdrew its directive to state bar councils to defer the enrolment of graduates of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research as advocates, Live Law reported.
The council had objected to a campaign by some students against the institute’s decision to invite Chief Justice Surya Kant to their convocation. It had triggered a backlash.
On Thursday, the council withdrew the directive, but said it had sought an inquiry report from the university identifying those who were “principally instrumental” in opposing Kant’s participation in the convocation. Later that night, it closed the proceedings against the students, saying it was satisfied that the 2026 batch had no role in any “disturbance or movement”.
Chief Justice Surya Kant on Friday criticised the Bar Council of India for the move, describing it as “absolutely uncalled for”.
Kant had said: “It’s a dialogue between students and me. Who are they to raise an issue?”
On Saturday, Mishra wrote in a three-page letter that “if anything connected with the present controversy, any of my words, or letter, has hurt the feelings of our law students, I sincerely regret and apologise for the same”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party MP said students at the national law universities were “fully capable of applying their own independent minds” and “do not require anyone to decide for them”, Live Law reported.
He said some of these students would one day occupy the highest positions in the legal and judicial system, and therefore “their decisions carry significance beyond a single event or controversy”.
“Peaceful disagreement, questioning and protest are important features of a constitutional democracy,” he wrote.
On the convocation, Mishra appealed to the students to make their decision independently, “after considering the matter in its entirety and according to their own judgment”.
He said he hoped the matter would be considered with “fairness and a spirit of reconciliation”. “The issue should not be allowed to acquire a political or extraneous colour through outside influence,” he said.
NALSAR row
NALSAR has extended an invitation to the CJI for the upcoming convocation despite students urging the university 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.
Kant had reportedly told the lawyer not to “waste our time” and said the bench was not interested in watching video evidence of the alleged police action.
In a communication addressed to state bar councils and NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Deva Rao, the bar council chairman had asked the university to submit a factual report within three days about the persons involved in mobilising the “organised campaign” against the CJI’s participation.
Political campaign Cockroach Janta Party had described the directive as “grossly disproportionate” and warned of protests by law students and advocates if it was not taken back.
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, had warned of a protest outside the Bar Council’s office and Mishra’s official residence by law students, advocates, senior lawyers, and “well-meaning young cockroaches”, if the order was not withdrawn.
Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.
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