Rich encomiums were paid to V.K. Krishna Menon, India’s former Defence Minister, by senior Supreme Court judge Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and other speakers at the Indian Society of International Law (ISIL)-organised 18th VK Krishna Menon lecture on Thursday, May 19.
Justice Lalit said it took around 8-10 hours of research for him on VK Krishna Menon so that he can be well prepared for the lecture. He even shared that there was a time when former Chief Justice of India Mohammed Hidayatullah studied Marxism because of Krishna Menon for a case and this was one such thing for Justice Lalit too as for this lecture, he had to do research on Krishna Menon.
He further said that this is just an example of how fascinating a man Krishna Menon was, that even Judge Hidayatullah was compelled to study the matter deeper and deeper.
Justice Lalit shared an anecdote of his family friend N.M. Ghatate, who was a junior of Krishna Menon and he once asked him what did he find so fascinating about Menon’s work. To which, Ghatate said he was studying when he met him and he was drawn to study law because of Menon and his intellect.
Answering a question on NALSA of which he is the Executive Chairman, Justice Lalit said NALSA’s free legal aid programme will reach every nook and corner of the country, including the much-neglected rural areas. Justice Lalit said the NALSA programme mandates that they have to cover every village of the country, India has some 6 lakh villages, thrice and that too in 42 days.
Justice Lalit is the sixth Senior Advocate ever to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court. He is soon going to retire on November 8, 2022, he is in line to be the next Chief Justice of India for a period of 74 days.
Indian Society of International Law (ISIL) president Pravin H. Parekh, ISIL Vice President Dr GV Rao and ISIL Acting Secretary-General Dr Shikhar Ranjan were among the other speakers at the lecture.