I was denied the job of part-time law lecturer, says former Attorney General Parasaran The 98-year-old doyen of the Bar sweeps Supreme Court and Madras High Court judges off their feet with his wit and humour

Parasaran senior advocate excellent speech in tn bar council.felecitation video full speech of parasaran https://www.sekarreporter.com/parasaran-senior-advocate-excellent-speech-in-tn-bar-council-felecitation-video-full-speech-of-parasaran/
[12/10, 09:27] Sekarreporter: [12/10, 09:09] Sekarreporter: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/i-was-denied-the-job-of-part-time-law-lecturer-says-former-attorney-general-parasaran/article70151734.ece
[12/10, 09:09] Sekarreporter: 👍👍
[12/10, 09:40] Sekarreporter:

[12/10, 09:43] Sekarreporter: [12/10, 09:10] Sekarreporter: [12/10, 09:09] Sekarreporter: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/i-was-denied-the-job-of-part-time-law-lecturer-says-former-attorney-general-parasaran/article70151734.ece
[12/10, 09:09] Sekarreporter: 👍👍
[12/10, 09:11] Sekarreporter: The Hindu Logo

Home
News
India
Tamil Nadu
I was denied the job of part-time law lecturer, says former Attorney General Parasaran
The 98-year-old doyen of the Bar sweeps Supreme Court and Madras High Court judges off their feet with his wit and humour
Updated – October 11, 2025 08:47 pm IST – CHENNAI

Mohamed Imranullah S Mohamed Imranullah S.
Google Preferred Source
Former Attorney General K. Parasaran (centre) being felicitated by Supreme Court judges at an event organised by Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in Chennai on October 11, 2025 to celebrate his platinum jubilee as a lawyer and golden jubilee as a designated senior advocate.
Former Attorney General K. Parasaran (centre) being felicitated by Supreme Court judges at an event organised by Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in Chennai on October 11, 2025 to celebrate his platinum jubilee as a lawyer and golden jubilee as a designated senior advocate. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Former Attorney General and Senior Advocate K. Parasaran swept a galaxy of judges, from the Supreme Court as well as the Madras High Court, off their feet on Saturday (October 11, 2025) with his scintillating speech laced with wit and humour even at the age of 98.

Justices Vikram Nath, M.M. Sundresh, P.S. Narasimha, K.V. Viswanathan and R. Mahadevan of the Supreme Court, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and a host of other sitting as well as former judges gave a standing ovation to the doyen of the Bar.

Also Read: K. Parasaran, a man for all reasons

Advertisement
The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP) had organised the event to celebrate the completion of 75 years (platinum jubilee) by Mr. Parasaran as a lawyer and the completion of 50 years (golden jubilee) as a designated Senior Advocate.

Flanked by five sitting judges from the Supreme Court and three (including Justices R. Suresh Kumar and M.S. Ramesh) from the Madras High Court, Mr. Parasaran began his speech, in a lighter note, asking how could he be expected to address a Constitution Bench (comprising five judges) of the Supreme Court and a Full Bench (comprising three judges) of the High Court simultaneously.

“Supreme Court as well as High Court judges are equal members of a family involved in administration of justice, The highest court of a State is the High Court and it is not subordinate to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is only a Constitutional appellate court. That is all,” he said amidst thunderous applause.

Further, stating the Bar and the Bench were the two wings of the bird of justice, he said: “The judges are the adjudicating partners and lawyers are the advocating partners. If anyone does not function properly, the bird will not fly high. It will fall down.”

Moral & ethical values taught by his father
Attributing his success in the legal profession to the moral and ethical values taught by his lawyer father Kesava Aiyangar, Mr. Parasaran said, he was taught that every individual must perform his/her duty without any expectations.

“My father taught me to maintain the highest dignity in the court… He said, however learned a lawyer you may be, you must always argue with the presumption that the judge sitting on the dais knows more than what you know. He said, a lawyer must never be aggressive but only submissive because you are supplicating on behalf of someone else,” the jurist told the gathering.

He also dispelled the argument over a frequent conflict between law and justice. He said: “If you answer your conscience, you will answer both law and Dharma… but we never answer our conscience, we choose things that are convenient to us. That is when the problem arises.”

Recalling the days when he used to earn as low as ₹5 even for filing a Civil Revision Petition, Mr. Parasaran disapproved of the present practice of senior advocates charging lakhs and crores of rupees to argue cases before the Supreme Court and the High Courts. “Legal profession is not about money. We are worshippers of justice,” he said and urged lawyers to charge only a reasonable amount of fees.

Denied part time lecturer’s job
Stating that he never solicited any position all through his professional career but for once when he applied for the post of part-time law lecturer because of his then financial situation, the doyen said: “I was not selected for the job probably because I was a gold medallist in B.A. (Sanskrit), a gold medallist in Hindu law while pursuing my law degree and a gold medallist in the Bar council examinations. They said, therefore, you are disqualified.”

Even as the audience were in splits, Mr. Parasaran thanked his wife Saroja Parasaran for having taken away the burden of raising the family off his shoulders and said: “My wife and I had an agreement. She said, you take care of the duty of earning money and I shall take care of spending it. This was the division of labour between us.”

Almost all sitting judges of the Madras High Court, a few retired judges of the Supreme Court and some former Chief Justices of various High Courts participated in the celebrations. Bar Council of India vice-chairman S. Prabakaran, BCTNP president P.S. Amalraj and others spoke.