Former Attorney General of India and Rajya Sabha member K. Parasaran has stressed on the need for enhancing representation of women in the legal profession as well as the judiciary.
Delivering the convocation address at the first convocation of the Karnataka State Law University (KSLU) here on Saturday, Mr. Parasaran said compared with other profession, the number of women legal practitioners was minimal in India.
“It is not a happy or healthy sign that there aren’t enough successful women lawyers at the bar. Since women have other responsibilities, there is a tendency not to pursue legal profession for some reasons or other. They should be encouraged to pursue it, bearing in mind that it takes years in the profession to come up”, he said.
Regretting the minimal number of women judges in the country, he said, “There is no adequate representation of women in the higher judiciary. If we go by the anecdotes of Portia in the West or by our own oriental anecdotes of Panchali (Druapadi) and Kannagi, one finds that women have remarkable ability to put forth cogent and convincing arguments to drive home their point good reason. Interesting arguments on women’s rights, estoppel, Hindu law etc were made by Panchali. Scholars confess that some of the arguments made by her are unanswerable”, he said.
Governor and Chancellor of the universities Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala conferred the honourary doctorate on former Chief Justice of India S. Rajendra Babu and senior academician G.V. Ajjappa on the occasion. Another former Chief Justice of India M. N.Venkatalachalaih was not present to receive the honourary doctorate.
The Governor awarded the degrees on the successful candidates, distributed gold medals, cash prizes and rank certificates on the occasion. Pro-chancellor and law minister T. B. Jayachandra, vice-chancellor T. R. Subramanya and others were present on the occasion.
