The pioneer of modern legal education system in India, Prof. (Dr.) N.R. Madhava Menon passed away early on Wednesday at an age of 84. The entire legal fraternity of India was left in shock and deep sorrow due to the loss which it has suffered.
He was the Founder Director of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, besides the Founder Vice Chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). Prof Menon introduced the five-year professional law education in the country.
Beginning his legal career as an advocate at the Kerala High Court in 1956, Mr Menon shifted his base to Delhi, after first joining the faculty of Aligarh Muslim University in 1960 and then to Delhi University in 1965, where he became Professor and Head of the Campus Law Centre.
In 1986, Mr Menon moved to Bangalore at the invitation of Bar Council of India to set up the National Law School of India University and to initiate a new model of legal education, the Five Year Integrated LL.B. programme.
After his retirement, he settled in the capital city and served as the chairman of the prestigious Centre for Development Studies, here for two terms, before calling it a day, a few years back.
Madhava Menon was credited for changing the face and fate of Indian legal education system by introducing the culture of NLUs in India. Though, I am not a supporter of the growing NLU educative system but yet, we can say that the popularization of the five year integrated graduation in law was a brainchild of Prof. Menon.
Prof. Menon was the person behind the idea of NLSIU Bangalore and National Judicial Academy, Bhopal. He was the founder VC of NUJS, Kolkata.
The idea of discarding the three year law degree course and introducing the five year integrated course has not only given the students, a chance to decide about their future in a rather early stage but also glamorized the legal education narrative in a positive way. If his suggestions were followed in totality, we could have easily achieved a better place in legal education in world.
I remember, in year 2017 during the SAARC Moot in Lloyd Law College, Noida, for the first time I saw Prof. Menon speaking. He spoke mainly about youths and students in the law field. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s stature and feelings, still I would say that though he was the oldest on the stage, but he was the youngest and energetic in his opinions and suggestions about the law field.
Prof. Menon was also criticized at times for supporting the South Indians more than the North Indians. I met him subsequently in 2018, but honestly speaking in these two short meetings I never felt so. Prof. Menon has given us as much as he could without any prejudice for Northern or Southern India. Categorizing him in the regional frames will be nothing, but a grave injustice to that great personality.
When I heard the news of his sorrowful demise, I couldn’t believe that our hero has gone. My condolences are with his family and students. May he take birth on this land yet again, and this time instead of academics, lead his life striving to revolutionalise the profession.
