Chief Justice of India presents N.R. Madhava Menon award to Attorney General R. Venkataramani

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant presents the N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Tribute of Honour-II Award to Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani at a function organised by the Bar Council of Kerala in Kochi on Saturday. Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Soumen Sen is seen. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Crediting N.R. Madhava Menon with reimagining legal education in the country, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant presented the N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Tribute of Honour-II Award to Attorney General for India R. Venkataramani here on Saturday (October 31, 2026).

He recalled that Menon lived as per the timeless principle that the welfare of the people is the supreme law. He gave it life not through legislation but through education; through curricula and legal-aid clinics that placed the poor and the marginalised at the very centre of legal training, rather than leaving them at its periphery. Even in his final years in Keralam, he devoted himself to the continuing education of lawyers in the State. The nation honoured him with the Padma Shri and, posthumously, with the Padma Bhushan. Yet his truest honours walk among us still, in the lawyers, judges, and teachers that he moulded, Mr. Kant said.

The award function was organised jointly by the Bar Council of Kerala and the Bar Council of Kerala Advocates’ Academy for Continuing Legal Education Trust.

Referring to the a ‘guru-shishya’ bond between Menon who is considered as the father of modern legal education and Mr. Venkataramani, Mr. Kant said the bond between them did not end at the college gates as the latter carried his teacher’s conscience to the Supreme Court of India, he added.

While thanking Menon for being with him throughout his life, Mr. Venkataramani in his ‘return speech’ exhorted every person to become responsible citizens and to transform society for good. He advised lawyers and students to effectively communicate while also being attentive and went on to read out an imaginative emotional letter he wrote to Menon.

‘Institutional legacy’

In his keynote address, Soumen Sen, Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, narrated how Menon left a lasting institutional legacy. He championed socially relevant legal education to bring about socially responsible citizens. He ushered in the concept of extending legal education beyond classrooms so that students understood the stark realities of marginalised sections of society. He also emphasised the need to upgrade the quality of legal training, especially at trial courts.

S. Sivakumar, chairman of Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy and Training, commemorated Menon as a person for whom legal education was not mere transmission of knowledge but a mind capable of questioning with independence and discipline.

The others who spoke include Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court Muhamed Mushtaque, Advocate General of Kerala Jaju Babu K., and Bar Council of Kerala chairman Muraleedharan G.

Published - October 31, 2026 08:32 pm IST