Condolences
April 25, 2021
With profound grief and sorrow, we regret to inform the demise of some of our most cherished members of the NLSIU Community. The University expresses its heartfelt condolences and support to their family members and all those affected by the loss of our beloved colleagues.
Faculty & Staff:
Prof. V S Mallar (1942-2021), Founding faculty member and former Registrar of NLSIU.
Prof Varadaraja Shivaraya Mallar was the Registrar at NLSIU between April 2001 and August 2005. He held the V.R. Krishna Iyer Chair on Public Law & Policy Choice. He completed his B.L. (1967) from University of Madras and LL.M. from Bombay University. He also earned a post Graduate Diploma in Labour and Administrative Law from the University of Madras. He was selected and appointed as Assistant Professor of Law (Senior) at NLSIU in May 1988, as Associate Professor of Law in April 1992, as Additional Professor in April 1997, and as Professor of Law from December, 1997.
He had taught at the J.S.S. Law College, Hubli, V.M. Salgaocar College of Law, Goa and was also Dean, Faculty of Law and Chairman of Board of Studies in Law of Goa University during 1986-88. He was also a Visiting Faculty at the Warwick University Coventry, U.K. during 1995.
He passed away due to COVID-19 on April 24, 2021.
Dr R S Kumbar (1960-2021), Former Librarian In-Charge, NLSIU.
Hailing from a small village in Davangere, Dr Kumbar worked as a part-time lecturer in Shivamogga and a librarian at Mangaluru and Ballari colleges before being appointed as a Library Assistant at NLS, Bangalore on June 28, 1990. Dr Kumbar, who began his career with a Bachelor’s degree in Library Sciences, continued to pursue a PG programme and a doctoral degree while working at NLS. Incidentally, his PhD thesis topic was ‘Law College libraries with respect to implementation of ICT.’
After dedicating 30 years of his life to NLSIU, he retired in 2020 from the University. Before he retired, he shared some of his experiences during his journey at NLS. Read the full interview here.
He passed away due to COVID-19 on April 24, 2021.
Ravi C B (1984-2021), Hostel canteen staff, NLSIU.
Ravi, was working as a cook at the hostel canteen. He began working at the Training Centre in 2007 and had later moved to the hostel canteen. He was 35 years old.
He passed away due to COVID-19 on April 30, 2021.
Mr Srinivasa H, House Keeping Supervisor, NLSIU.
He was working at the University since last 2 years and is fondly remembered as a very humble and hard working employee. He was 39 yrs old.
He passed away on May 3, 2021 due to COVID-19.
Dr K V Ravindranath Tagore, Former colleague and Visiting faculty, NLSIU.
An IPS officer from the 1979 batch, he was the former ADGP of Karnataka and Commissioner of the Department of Information. Dr Tagore had taught a number of courses at NLS between 2009 and 2015 such as ‘Crime Investigation’, ‘Regional Human Rights’, ‘Offences against the human body’, and ‘A Scientific analysis of crimes and criminals.’ He passed away on May 12, 2021 at the age of 72.
Governing Body Members:
Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar (1958-2021), Supreme Court judge and Executive Council member, NLSIU.
Born in 1958, he enrolled as an advocate in 1980 and was known as the ninth senior most judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Shantanagoudar specialised in Civil, Criminal and Constitutional matters. Among other offices, Justice Shantanagoudar had served as State Public Prosecutor of Karnataka from 1999 to 2002. He was appointed permanent judge of the Karnataka High Court in September 2004 and also as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court in 2016 before being elevated to the Supreme Court. He was to remain in office till May 4, 2023.
Justice Shantanagoudar passed away late on Saturday (April 24, 2021) in Gurugram due to health issues.
Soli Sorabjee (1930-2021), Former EC and AC Member, NLSIU.
A former Attorney General and Padma Vibhushan awardee, he was previously a member of NLSIU’s Executive and Academic Council. He was also the Ford Foundation Chair Professor from 21-07-2004 to 31-07-2006.
He passed away on April 30, 2021 due to COVID-19 at the age of 91.
Alumni:
Manan Mipun (1993-2021), NLS’ LLB 2017.
Manan, an NLS alum from the batch of 2017, lost his battle with COVID on April 29, 2021. He had taken up a Corporate job soon after he graduated from the University and had recently started litigating in Guwahati. He was 28 years old.
Father Joy Karayampuram, NLS ‘LLM 1999.
An NLS alum from the LLM batch of 1999, he was the former Jesuit provincial of Patna. He previously held the post of HoD, Department of Human Rights and Law at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi. He was 65 years old.
He passed away on April 29, 2021 due to COVID-19.
Ajoy Halder, NLS ‘LLB 2004.
Ajoy Halder was a former partner of HSA Advocates and had also worked with Pinsent Masons, DSK Legal, Trilegal, Amarchand Mangaldas and Lexadigm. He later set up his own law firm Halder & Associates in 2017.
He passed away due to COVID-19 on May 7, 2021.
Rohit Mammen Alex, NLS ‘LLB 1999.
Rohit was a Supreme Court lawyer and former Additional Advocate General, Uttar Pradesh. He had previously worked in the chambers of Senior Advocate PH Parekh for over seven years before setting up his independent practice in 2006. He passed away on May 11, 2021.
Condolence Meeting
In memory of some of the members of the NLS community, the University organised an online Condolence Meeting on April 25, 2021 to pay respects and celebrate their lives. Watch the full video here: