A Teacher’s Vision, A Nation’s Legal Legacy: CJI Surya Kant Confers Madhava Menon Memorial Award on Attorney General R. Venkataramani

31st October 202631st October 2026 TaherAbedi

At a ceremony in Kochi, the Chief Justice of India honours a student of the late legal educationist, and the guru-shishya bond between the two takes centre stage

(Judicial Quest News Network)

Kochi: 31, October,2026-The Attorney General for India, R. Venkataramani, was conferred the Madhava Menon Memorial Award on Saturday at a ceremony in Kochi. The award honours the memory of Dr. N.R. Madhava Menon, the eminent legal educationist, and was presented by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.

The programme was hosted by the Bar Council of Kerala together with the Bar Council of Kerala Advocates Academy for Continuing Legal Education Trust. It was held at Vivanta Ernakulam on Marine Drive.

In his address, the Chief Justice paid tribute to Professor Menon’s lasting contribution to Indian legal education. He noted that Professor Menon helped found three leading institutions the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru, the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata, and the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal. Though different in setting and purpose, each, the CJI said, was shaped by one conviction. Properly taught, law is a means of social transformation and not merely a licence to practise a trade.

“Each bearing the unmistakable imprint of one conviction: that law, when taught rightly, is an instrument of social transformation, and not merely a licence to practice a trade.”

The CJI observed that Professor Menon did not pursue this ideal through legislation. He pursued it through education, building curricula and legal aid clinics that put the poor and the marginalised at the centre of legal training and not at its periphery.

“He gave it life not through legislation, but through education: through curricula and legal aid clinics that placed the poor and the marginalized at the very centre of legal training, rather than leaving them at its periphery.”

The CJI also spoke of the personal link between the honouree and the man the award commemorates. Mr. Venkataramani joined Government Law College, Pondicherry, in 1974, the same year Professor Menon became its principal. This began a relationship between teacher and student that lasted a lifetime.

“It is a teacher’s vision finding vindication in a student’s achievement: a lineage of learning that runs, unbroken, from a small college in Pondicherry to the highest office of legal counsel in the land.”

The CJI described the occasion as a teacher’s vision finding vindication in a student’s achievement. He spoke of an unbroken lineage of learning that runs from a small college in Pondicherry to the highest office of legal counsel in the country.

The Chief Justice commended Mr. Venkataramani’s service to the legal profession over nearly five decades. He said the Attorney General’s measured approach, fidelity to principle and unfailing courtesy had been refined by years of both learning and experience. Presenting the award to him was especially fitting, the CJI added, since his career reflects the values Professor Menon tried to instil in his students.

The CJI lauded Attorney General R. Venkataramani for his distinguished contribution to the legal profession over nearly five decades, observing that his measured temperament, principled conduct, and unfailing courtesy had been refined through years of learning and experience

Accepting the honour, the Attorney General spoke warmly of his association with Professor Menon and the deep mark the teacher left on his personal and professional life. He said he felt Professor Menon standing by his side as he received the award, perhaps watching over his shoulder to see what he is still trying to do.

He also recalled Professor Menon’s efforts to draw lawyers into the pursuit of social justice. Legal education, he stressed, must go beyond preparing students for courtroom practice.

The ceremony was attended by: