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“Law Is a Public Trust, Not Private Capital”: CJI Surya Kant at NLU Jodhpur Convocation

In a stirring convocation address, Surya Kant, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), reminded graduating law students that the legal profession is founded on public service and constitutional responsibility, not personal enrichment.

Speaking at the convocation ceremony of National Law University, Jodhpur, the CJI declared, “The law is not private capital to be leveraged for personal gain. It is a public trust.” He emphasized that the credibility and strength of the justice delivery system depend as much on the integrity of the Bar as on the Bench.

CJI Surya Kant cautioned young lawyers against reducing advocacy to spectacle. “Advocacy cannot become performance and be used only for personal gain,” he said, warning that when lawyers prioritise “spectacle over substance, complexity over clarity, or convenience over conscience,” they risk rebuilding the very “fortress mentality” that constitutional democracy sought to dismantle.

He underlined that in a constitutional democracy, law must function as an open forum rooted in participation and reason, rather than as an exclusive domain guarded by technical jargon and inaccessible language.