Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Sunday said that “in an age of immediacy, judiciousness has become rare and therefore deeply valuable.”
Addressing the convocation of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata, CJI Surya Kant, who is also the university’s Chancellor, described the legal profession as a long and demanding journey, urging graduates to pause and reflect in a fast-paced world.
NUJS held its 15th convocation ceremony on Sunday, the first since 2022, conferring degrees to 1,050 students who graduated between 2021 and 2025, after a four-year gap.
The CJI said that prudence is different from knowledge, maintaining that it is knowing when to insist on the letter of the law and when to understand the purpose it seeks to serve. “A career in law is built not through constant urgency but through sustained and thoughtful engagement,” he said, adding, “If there is one quality that will distinguish you in the years ahead, more than speed or hard work, it is prudence. Knowledge can be acquired quickly, but prudence is knowing when to speak and when silence carries greater weight,” he said.
CJI Surya Kant advised the graduates to “allow yourself the room to pause and step away when necessary without apology, and re-enter your work with purpose.”
“We live in an age of immediacy where opinions are formed instantly and responses are expected without waiting, in such a world judiciousness has become rare and therefore deeply valuable. Allow yourself the room to pause and step away when necessary without apology and renter ur work with purpose. The ability to unwind and slow down at the right intervals is not a retreat from professional responsibility rather it is a way of sustaining it,” he said.
Prof. Ranbir Singh, chairperson of the Central Criminal Law Reforms Committee, who was the chief guest at the event, said, “At the global level the world is passing through very difficult times and we are sitting on the verge of another World War.” “India, as the fastest-growing economy and largest democracy, has to play an important role in balancing conflicting interests at the global level and at the same time has to address serious concerns,” he said.
Noting that “this convocation has taken its time in arriving”, CJI Surya Kant told students, “What makes today’s event particularly special is that it is not just a moment of transitions but it is a moment of return…The law outside the campus may not always resemble what you studied, files must be heavier than textbooks.”
He further said, “In these early professional moments it is easy to feel that education has been overtaken by experience. It is easy to feel that practice has moved faster than theory. Some might have felt this distance sharply. Legal education at its best is not about providing ready solutions, it is about shaping how you think when solutions are unclear. It gives the ability to remain steady when facts are uncomfortable when interest collides. As years pass you may find most enduring lessons from NUJS were not confined to examining court work. They were embedded in conversations that stretch beyond classrooms.”
The convocation was attended by dignitaries, including Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Sujoy Paul, SC Justice Dipankar Dutta, SC Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Chief Justice of Kerala High Court Soumen Sen, and Advocate General Calcutta High Court Kishore Dutta.