SHIMLA: In its mega first Convocation here today, Himachal Pradesh National Law University(HPNLU), Shimla conferred four honorary Doctorate of Philosophy of Laws degree to India's four eminent jurists and awarded various Law degrees to its 266 Students. As many as 18 of its students also bagged gold medals for their academic achievements.

Among the prominent jurists include Mr. Justice Surya Kant, Judge, Supreme Court of India, who was conferred the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy of Laws (honoris causa) in absentia.

Justice V. Ramasubramanian, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Justice Deepak Gupta, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, Former Chief Justice, High Court of Himachal Pradesh were conferred the Degree of Doctorate of Philosophy of Laws (Honoris Causa) by the University, in-person.

Apart from this, one Ph.D. in Law Degree; 108 LL.M. Degrees, and 157 Degrees of B.A./B.B.B.A. LL.B. degrees were awarded in the Convocation.  In addition 18 Gold Medals and Prizes were also conferred.

Addressing the students Justice Sanjiv Khanna in his keynote address motivated the students and spoke about the importance of law as a career.

“Law is one of the most important disciplines which shape the normative, structural and functional characters of the society”, he said.

Law defines normality and abnormality, creates legitimate expectation, which is considered as the foundational principle for freedom of contract and exchange.

“It establishes the checks and balances, which are the cornerstone for the rule of law and a just and fair society”, Justice Khanna said.  

The university also conferred Vice-Chancellor’s Gold Medal for their exemplary academic performance in the postgraduate programmes on four students.

They include Ms. Ruby Yadav (Batch 2017-18 PG), Ms. Shagun Sharma (Batch 2018-19 PG), Ms. Vershika Sharma (Batch 2019-20, PG), Ms. Anushka Ukrani (Batch 2020-21 PG).

In the undergraduate section, university has constituted six gold - Dr. Ashutosh Gold Medal, Sri Shyam Sundar Goel Memorial Gold Medal, Vice-Chancellor’s Gold Medal, Chancellor’s Gold Medal, and Mr. Justice Dharam Paul Sood Gold Medal.

Ms. Nikhat Jamal, bagged the first three constituted gold medals from the batch 2016-21 and Ms. Pranjal Sharma bagged the latter two gold medals from the batch 2016-21 along with a fellowship, Chancellor’s Fellowship Prize, of Rs 10.000.

The K.K. Luthra Memorial Gold Medal in Criminal Law was bagged by Ms. Sonu Khandelwal.

As many as 5 gold medals were awarded in 2017-22 batch. They included Ms. Priyanka Thakur, whereas Ms. Mansi Sharma bagged the K.K. Luthra Memorial Gold Medal in Criminal Law.

Judges from the Supreme Court of India, Members of the Governing, Executive, and Academic Council of the University, and the Judges of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh graced the occasion.

Vice Chancellors from various National Law Universities across the country also participated in the convocation held at Adventure Resorts New Kufri.

The convocation was organised under the leadership of Prof. Nishtha Jaswal, Vice-Chancellor, HPNLU, Shimla and in support of Dr. Chanchal Kumar Singh, the Controller of Examinations, HPNLU, Shimla and Prof. S.S. Jaswal, Registrar, HPNLU, Shimla.

The team consisting of Mr. Kali Ram, Assistant Registrar, Mr. Rahul, Mr. Sahil, Mr. Dinesh, Mr. Raveen, Ms. Sushma, Ms. Himanshu and the faculty members of the University immensely contributed to the conducting of the event.