HNLU Hosts Swami Vivekanand Memorial Lecture
Raipur : Hidayatullah National Law University successfully commenced its new academic semester with the prestigious 4th Swami Vivekananda Memorial Lecture on January 12, 2025. Coinciding with National Youth Day, the event marked a significant moment in the university’s academic calendar. The lecture, centered on the theme ‘Contextualizing Swami Vivekananda’s Philosophy in the 75th Year of Indian Constitution: A Beacon of Vision and Values,’ was delivered by Justice M R Shah, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India and Distinguished Jurist Professor, HNLU. The memorial lecture was also graced by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Goutam Bhaduri, Former Judge, High Court of Chhattisgarh.
Prof Vivekanandan, Vice-Chancellor of HNLU in his opening remarks briefed the transformative years of Swami Vivekanada’s early age at Raipur and his search of inner quest on religion, society, nation and culture in his short life of 39 years. He briefed HNLU’s effort to celebrate Swami Vivekananda by commissioning his statute by HNLU alumni turned artists and instituting the annual memorial lecture on his birth anniversary. He further added the tremendous support of HMJ M.R.Shah as the Executive Council member on the affairs of HNLU and outlined crucial judgements of Justice M.R.Shah befitting him as an apt speaker for’ this year edition of memorial lecture.
Mr. Justice M.R. Shah delivered an insightful address of Swami Vivekananda on his 163th year birthday, and his thoughts and advocacy on social justice, national building, equality,secular outlook and Gender justice which are now reflected in our constitutional mandate and judicial pronouncements.
Better late than never, Justice Shah touched upon swami Vivekananda’s tenets through landmark case laws of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978),Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985),Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015),SR Bommai v. Union of India (1994),A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras (1950),Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017),Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (1992),Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018),Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997),Nalpakkam Venkataraman v. Union of India (2006),State of Karnataka v. Appa Balu Ingale (1993),National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014),Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India (2018),Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala (1986),Society for Un-aided Private Schools v. Union of India (2012),Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka (1992),Unni Krishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1993),Aruna Roy v. Union of India (2002),T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka (2002) and Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017)
Justice Shah in his impactful address emphasized Swami Vivekanandan’s ideals Oneness through collective resolve, harmony, respect for women, and social equality for building a strong nation with compassion and values. He emphasised the true tribute on this anniversary celebration is to imbibe the ideals of Swami Vivekandan’s teaching on this National Youth Day.
Dr Deepak Srivastava, Registrar (I/c) delivered the Welcome Address and Dr Avinash Samal, Dean, Social Sciences, delivered the Vote of Thanks.
This series of lectures instituted in HNLU has been inspirational every year and drew the young law students and faculty from various law schools in Chhattisgarh.
The event was organized by HNLU under the CG LEARN (Chhattisgarh Legal Education and Research Network) platform coordinated by Dr Deepak Srivastav the Registrar in charge of HNLU and Dr. Anita Singh faculty of HNLU.
