Gandhinagar, 19 January 2013

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India Altamas Kabir today today while speaking at Gujarat National Law University(GNLU)’s fourth convocation function in Gandhinagar asked students that if they combine SSC – sincerity, sensitivity, compassion, care and commitment together, there can be nothing that can stop them. He said this is his own SSC. He also said that law is dynamic, and not a static subject, it’s not a dry subject. He said sensitivity is required to deal with the human being, and it should be remembered well.

“All of you must be familier with the Supreme Court Cases – SCC. For me S stands for sincerity and sensitivity, the first C stands for compassion and care, and the last C stands for commitment. If you combine these things together, there can be nothing that can stop you. Law is not a dry subject.,” he said.

In the beginning of his address, the Chief Justice said he has attended several convocation functions all over the country but this was the first convocation that he attended in open air. “It is different, and ambiance is such that makes you the part of nature,” he added.

The Chief Justice talked about the facilities like internet, computers and iPads that the law students and people working in law fraternity enjoy today.

Recalling his student age, the Chief Justice said, “You are studying in an institution which many of us never had the fortune to attend. When we studied law, believe me it was not with the seriousness that you are with today. In this five years course, students are much more focused in what they intend doing. In our times Law was almost a pass time. We would study couple hours in the morning and evening. During the day we did other things. Whatever we learned we learnt outside the college. Many of us didn’t attend the classes regularly. But with this change and with this five year course, people are more serious, they want to pursue career in law.”

He said there’s a system of having law researchers for the honorable Judges, and when he interviews students from various universities each is found as brilliant as the other. “What they know today is much more than what we knew when we passed from the college. Today information is on your finger tips. You can access computer.You can walk in with the iPads. But then one thing I think is most very important to us in legal fraternity I have seen in my career of almost 33 years now is that the amount of commitment person has ultimately pays. Trying to do things haphazardly or without much depth doesn’t really ultimately end well.”

The Chief Justice in his address also spoke about importance of constitution and importance of being a lawyer.