Madhava Menon cremated with full state honours

Thiruvananthapuram: The mortal remains of N R Madhava Menon, considered the father of modern legal education in the country, were cremated with full state honours at Santhikavadam crematorium here on Wednesday afternoon.
Menon (84), who passed away at a private hospital here in the early hours of Wednesday, was a legal luminary who pioneered the establishment of national law schools and the person who conceptualization of the five-year integrated LLB course.
His mortal remains were kept at his house at Poojapura from morning for the public to pay homage. State governor P Sathasivam, politicians cutting across party lines, academicians and members of legal fraternity were among those who paid tributes to Menon. Ministers including Kadakamapally Surendran and A K Balan and state police chief Lokanath Behara were present during the cremation.
“Madhava Menon, whose insightful ideas modernized legal education in India, was an authority on legal and constitutional matters,” said the governor. Menon used his limitless erudition to build world class institutions and to enlighten generations of students, the governor said in his condolence message.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in his condolence message, said Menon provided a new direction for legal education and imparted his in-depth knowledge of law to successive generations in a simple language.
Author of several books on legal education and profession, Menon already has a prestigious award in his name for best law teacher instituted to commemorate his services in the field spanning over half a century.
Born on May 4, 1935 in Thiruvananthapuram, Menon obtained his BSc and BL degrees from Kerala University and went on to complete his LLM and PhD from Aligarh Muslim University and MA from Punjab University. He enrolled himself as an advocate in Kerala High Court in 1956.
After joining as a faculty in Aligarh Muslim University in 1960, Menon worked as a professor at the Campus Law Centre in Delhi University. He also served as principal of Government Law College, Pondicherry and the secretary of the Bar Council of India Trust.
Menon moved to Bangalore in 1986, following an invitation from the Bar Council of India to set up the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) where he launched the five-year LLB programme, which revolutionized the legal education sector in the country. He served as the founding vice chancellor of NLSIU for 12 years.
After a similar invitation from West Bengal government, Menon established West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Calcutta, where he served as the vice-chancellor from 1998 to 2003. Besides setting up National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, following a direction by the Supreme Court, he served two terms as member of the Law Commission of India.
Menon also served as a member of the Committee on Criminal Justice Reform and the Committee on Restructuring of Higher Education in India, and was conferred with Padma Shri in 2003 for outstanding public services. Though he retired from official posts in 2006, the central government appointed him as a member of the central-state relation commission, a position which he held till 2010.