Chief Justice of India, Justice HL Dattu, has called upon law graduates to be alive to the changing needs of society and adapt accordingly.

Delivering the Convocation address at Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University (DSNLU) here on Friday, Justice Dattu said though the judiciary was the machinery to provide justice, the lawyers were the oil that helps in its smooth administration.

He defined a lawyer as not one who merely wears black robes but should have to wear an additional robe of a ‘social reformer’.

Referring to the legal field being increasingly viewed as a ‘commercialised profession’ and a lucrative option, he said, “Honour sinks, where commerce prevails. It is wrong to enter the profession with a mindset to only make money.”

The State Recalling his childhood, he said, “If I could become the CJI from my humble background as a student of a village school in Chikmagalur district, it was because I had followed the advice of our Headmaster Ranganadha Rao. He had asked us to remember the three H’s – honesty, humbleness or humility and honesty – as the guiding principles in life.”

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the guest of honour, said the greatest advantage of India was its young population unlike Japan, China and the US, which were ageing. India will have the largest technical manpower by 2018 and this was the reason he had promoted technology a decade ago.

He said all villages would be connected with high bandwidth, internet access and Wi-fi over the next three years.

The Chief Minister promised to allocate required land to DSNLU for construction of its own buildings and said that ₹25 crore would be sanctioned immediately to enable the university to take up construction work.

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