Increasing presence of women in legal profession heartening: CJ

Urges students graduating from law university to function as agents of social change

Encouraging sign: Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani, Chief Justice of Madras High Court and Chancellor, presents degree certificate to a student at the first convocation of the Tamil Nadu National Law University in Tiruchi on Saturday. Vice-Chancellor Kamala Sankaran is seen.

A progressive increase in number of women in legal profession was a heartening development, Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani, Chief Justice of Madras High Court, said here on Saturday.

While addressing the first convocation of the Tamil Nadu National Law University, in her capacity as the Chancellor, Justice Vijaya Kamlesh said that of the 670 judges in the country, 73 were women. There were three women judges in the Supreme Court, and two women chief justices of High Courts. There were 10 women judges in the Madras High Court, she said.

The Chief Justice was visibly pleased with a large composition of girls in the first batch receiving their degrees. There were 32 girls and 37 boys in the batch. Of them, 27 boys and 24 girls received their degrees in person. Eighteen candidates received their degrees in absentia.

Legal profession was sought after next only to medicine and engineering, the Chief Justice said, and urged the graduating students to function as agents of social change. Awareness of legal rights in the society was low, she observed, urging the graduates to secure justice for the disadvantaged groups.

Presenting the academic report, Vice-Chancellor Kamala Sankaran said the university adopted various approaches to develop an environment for research-based learning that would enable students to take up leadership roles in the society.

The university was pursuing two active research projects in partnership with The Competition Commission of India, Centre for Women’s Development Studies and the International Labour Organisation. The research culture was extensive in the university as various researchers from Harvard, Oxford, Kent, York, and Tel-Aviv Universities visited the campus and trained the students on various fields of law, Prof. Kamala Sankaran said.

The gold medal for overall topper in the batch was awarded to Sathya Parvathi. Eniya Chezhiyan bagged the medal for coming second. Ms. Sathya Parvathi was also the overall topper in the women’s category and the topper in the subject of Civil Procedure Code.