Date:25/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/25/stories/2006082505990400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Judge gets Ph.D. from NLSIU

Staff Reporter

K. Bhakthavatsala will receive doctorate at convocation

K. Bhakthavatsala

BANGALORE: Judges lay down the law and adjudicate disputes. Some of the best-known judges in India have been conferred doctorates by universities in recognition their contribution in the filed of law. But there are only a handful of judicial officers and even fewer sitting judges who have worked for their doctorate.

A judge of the Karnataka High Court, K. Bhakthavatsala, will, perhaps, be the first sitting judge of the Karnataka High Court to be awarded a doctorate by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, for his thesis on `Constitutional developments in India through judicial process.'

Mr. Bhakthavatsala will receive the Ph.D. degree from Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal on August 27 at the NLSIU convocation. He will become the second sitting High Court judge in South India to receive a doctorate after Mr. Lakshmanan (who is now a judge of the Supreme Court).

Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Bhakthavatsala said he had worked on his doctorate for two years. His experience as an advocate, lecturer, Law Secretary to the Government, and judge helped him gain better insight and put his experience to good use.

He balanced his work as a judge and a Ph.D. student and ensured that one did not affect the other.

A graduate of law from S.J.R. College, Bangalore, he enrolled as an advocate in 1980 and also worked as a part-time lecturer in several law colleges in Bangalore. He was recruited to the higher judicial services in 1988 and served as a District and Sessions Judge. He also headed the one-man commission to inquire into the lock-up death in a police station in Bhirmapur and a police firing incident in Gulbarga. He served as Law Secretary and was elevated as a High Court judge in 2002.