Prof. (Dr.) Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan

Farewell address given to students on 18^th March, 2021 at Symbiosis Law School Hyderabad

 

Dear Students!

Today is the last working day for me as the Director of Symbiosis Law School Hyderabad (SLS-H). My original tenure was supposed to get over on 21^st April, 2021 but due to compelling circumstances arising out of the decision of the Executive Council of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) directing me to repatriate back within a period of seven days’ time; I have no other choice but to return to my parent institution WBNUJS. This decision might comes as surprise to you all – but believe me it was as surprising,  shocking and difficult for me as well to take this decision.

In many occasions of our life we need to take some difficult decision, such as one which I took to repatriate back. On one side I have an option to stay on the lucrative post of Professor and Director SLS-H on the other hand I have an opportunity to go back to my own city, to live with my parents and all family members. On  one hand, our own aspirations for name and honour forces us to reach at higher pedestals of success while on the other hand, your family wants you to come back to the city where they live. On one hand, you have a lavish life at new city while on the other hand your parent want you to stay with them, specifically during the last few years of their lives.

I took the decision to go back and stay with my parent and fulfill the desire of my family. Unless you get peace in your life and make your family members happy, your life remain unsuccessful no matter which higher rank or post you have attained. Moreover, your society where you grow up has some expectations from you. Hence, I have decided to go back to my city, to live with my parent, give some happiness to family and make myself available to my society and community. 

Let me share a story with you all.

One boy was born in a poor family, who passes his childhood and adolescent age in one room tile shed house (12X10 Sq. ft) where 9 family members including,  6 brothers and sisters, both parent and maternal grandmother used to stay together. His father was a hawker and used to sell sarees at the footpath of Esplanade, Kolkata. He was lucky that despite all these hardships he was sent to government school, as many such children are deprived of education, in Modern India. He, almost every day, after his school hours, used to help his father in hawkering.  His childhood had never given him opportunity to enjoy by playing with other children. Being the eldest son, he was discharging his responsibility to assist family. But he had  a dream. Dream to be educated, become successful. In fact, in Kolkata Book fair which used to get organised in esplanade, little away from the place where he was hawkering, he once enquired in the British Council Stall about how to go England for study. This was the audacity of day dreaming for such boy who was hawkering at esplanade but day dreaming about studying in England. He left his study after Class XII to support his family financially. He worked in many organization like Agenct of LIC, Agenct of Peerless and Commission Agent of United Bank of India, Topsia Branch for collecting money from different customers under Mini Deposit Scheme. These works gave him financial support to restart his studies as well as support family. He completed his LL.B from Calcutta University, LL.M and M.Phil from WBNUJS. The Almighty Allah was kind enough to fulfill his dream of studying in England by providing British Chevening Scholarship to complete his 2^nd LL.M from University of Essex. This is the life story, though in short, of no one else but your director.

Why am I telling all this to you? It is only because you all belong to very small percentage of family who are privilege and has not seen hardship. Your parent ensures best education available to you. When I with all the hardships could achieve and become what I am today, I firmly believe that you all will also be as successful in your life, as you desire. Few of you might become Judges of the High Court and even Supreme Court. Few of you will surely reach to higher pedestal of success in legal profession and become Advocate General, Attorney General, Solicitor General among others. Some of you might choose to be in academics and become Vice-Chancellor while few others will be entrepreneurs.  Each one of you will definitely be successful in your career – you and your parent must be consistently waiting for such time.

In next few months few of you will be graduated and start experiencing the challenging though fascinating world of legal profession. Remember, every challenge make us stronger and bring the best in us. As it is the last day for me, I do wish to share my experience at SLS-H and few lessons from it for all of you.

1.    1. HAVE FAITH ON YOUR TEACHER: – I have seen and heard from colleagues, the kind of undesirable communication they face for small fraction of marks from students, in continuous evaluation. As a teacher we never see you as our adversary. It is our ardent duty to distinguish among students by grading them according to their performance in examination. Once you get passout from college, 5-10 years down the line, all these argument for 0.5 mark or 1 mark will remain just a number. It is your hard work which ultimately helps you in reaching higher pedestal of success. Having said that, as a student you have a right to know where you have committed mistake so that you can improve your work in subsequent assignment.

 2.     HAVE FAITH IN YOUR DIRECTOR AND ADMINISTRATION AND AVOID BECOMING EMAIL WARRIER: – One most disturbing trend I have seen at SLS-H is that the students and their parents write copy-pasted email to all authorities. It does not give any different resolution. The same resolution could have been achieved at institute level. Try to solve your issues at institute level before approaching any higher authorities. The seniors had given excellent training to their juniors, even 1^st year junior, to write copy-pasted email to authorities.  Believe me, it does not help rather it creates unnecessary disturbances in the mind of college administration.

 3.     PEACE NECESSARY FOR PROGRESS: – On many occasions we have to devote innumerable hours in resolving unnecessary things – like acts of email warrior. These hours could be used for planning some more progressive work at campus. Remember, in last two years we have tried our best to have as many programs as possible to develop the skills of the students. This can become possible only when college administrative is free from unnecessary or avoidable disturbances. Please try your best not to become unreasonable and support the administration in smooth running of the institution.

 

 4.     SLS-H SHALL REMAIN MOST VIBRANT CAMPUS: – With more than 28 cells and centres and continuous programs by each cell and centre, SLSH have been made a most happening campus in India. Pandemic halted such pace to some extent, but with the cooperation of students we are still organizing number of programs at SLS-H parallel of  which cannot be found  in any other institution in India. Let we all strive further to strengthen it and have at least one program by each cell and centre every month. It will make our campus most happening and vibrant.

 5.     OUR TALENT OUR ASSET: – SLS-H is lucky to have most talented students coming from almost every corner of the country. This is our great strength. I remember, when I discussed with Dr. Priyanka about organizing a Value Added Course on Dance, it was shocking for many. We did similar course for photography. Our sports team too organized few similar programs. I too had many plans in mind, few we able to execute while few still a dream. Let us strive to do as much programs as possible and bring out the best from our student in any field where their interest lies and they have expertise. Let our student not only become topper in academics but they should also leave their marks in all skills such as mooting, debating, sports, dance, singing, photography among others. In last one month, I have seen two of our teams consisting of second year students bringing laurels for the institutions in mooting and that is the most pleasing experience for me and I can visualize great future of our students.

On a lighter note, the restriction on campus due to pandemic, in your last few months of stay at SLS-H, will force few of you to abandon few unhealthy practices. It is challenging but an opportunity to march towards healthy living. You all are the future of SLS-H and I don’t have even an iota of doubt that you all will be having great successful life. Wish you best of luck. Feel free to contact me in future whenever you consider me worth contacting for any issue. I will be in NUJS and hope to see few of you in Kolkata or at NUJS.

Best of luck to all of you!

 

PROF. (DR.) SARFARAZ AHMED KHAN

WELCOME ADDRESS DELIVERED DURING VALEDICTORY SESSION OF THE WEEK LONG INDUCTION PROGRAMME FOR BA LLB AND BBA LLB STUDENT AT SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL HYDERABAD ON 3^RD OCTOBER 2020.

Hon’ble Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, Respected Prof. (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Respected Mr Sri Jayesh Ranjan, Prof. Rick Glofcheski, Respected Mr Vikramjit Banerjee, Respected Mr Santhosh Janakiram, , my colleagues  from faculty and administration, all parents and guardians and all my dear students, a very warm Good Morning to all of you.

It is indeed a great Honour and Privilege to have Hon’ble Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan, Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. Sir your presence is a blessing for our new students and your guidance will be a treasure for them to preserve throughout their life. We are grateful to you for accepting our invitation to be Chief Guest in the Valedictory function of the Induction Programme. I welcome you , sir.  

I would also like to welcome Prof. (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice-Chancellor NLU Delhi. May your presence today educate my new batch of young students that law should be studied beyond books and should be practised for a greater purpose. I welcome you, sir.

I would like to welcome Mr Sri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS Principal Secretary to Government of India. Dear sir may your presence today instil in this young students the truest form of administrative skills and the disciple imbibed in it. I welcome you, Sir.

I now would like to welcome Prof. Rick Glofcheski, University of Hong Kong. Your presence today again reminds me that COVID has brought people so closer to each other, may your presence today help this new batch understand the international spectrum and scope of the law. I welcome you, sir.

I welcome Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, Additional Solicitor General of India. May your presence today enlighten my student about the true sense of a court and the happiness of fighting for the underprivileged. I welcome you, Sir.

I now would like to welcome sir, Mr Santhosh Janakiram, Senior Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. May your presence today enlighten my students about the most lucrative and challenging arena of the field. May your story enlighten them about the real pros and cons of being a corporate lawyer. I welcome you, sir.

I also welcome my colleagues, all our faculty members and administrative staff present today.

Dear Students, the most famous line I see nowadays treading on the internet is from the Netflix series “Dark” I have not watched it but I am sure you all have, the line reads as follows “The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end”. Dear Students, today you have reached the end of your induction week, but you are about to begin your classes next week and within a span of five years, you will graduate. The cycle of end and beginning continues. Dear student, today I want to tell you again “Congratulation for getting selected for SLS-H and becoming part of Symbiosis Family.”

How many of you remember the golden key of goal setting that I gave you in your first day of the induction week. Can I see a quick raise of hands?

Great, thank you so much for your attention. Today I will give you one more important key- I call it the silver key of Success. Success is a word that is subjected to various interpretations. When we talk about 5 years of your life here, let me tell you that apart from your regular studying you must do a lot of extracurricular and become an all-rounder and along with that I want all of you to follow a path of self-actualization. I want you to learn self-love, inculcate self-confidence, improve your self-belief, take some time out and understand your self-worth, realize that you have self-esteem read with self-dignity and that you are made for more. Each one of you has the potential to excel. By the end of the five years when I will be delivering you your farewell speech, I want to see that all of you have reached the epitome of self- realization. Let me tell you, dear students, once you do what I have asked you today you unlock the key of success and find your true potential and desire and I know that wherever you go and whatever you do, you will achieve success.

Today, dear students I want to give you a reality check. They say, “Success and Failure are different side of one coin called life”. If you utilize my golden key of goal setting you will reach success but, in the process, you will encounter this personality known as Failure. When you meet failure tell him/ her a hello and thank him/her for coming to your life. Dear students, it is important that you understand the concept of failing because it is part and parcel of success and if you can learn from your failures and remember them half your job is done. All of you know Thomas Edison, he had more than 1,000 U.S. patents to his name.  However, as a young boy in school, his mind often wandered, and his teachers told him that he was “too stupid to learn anything”.  He was eventually home-schooled by his mother. However, after his invention, he said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” You can make mistake, but what you are not allowed to do is forget the mistake you have made and the lessons you have learned. There is always this concept of more successful and less successful and it is on you to decide what kind of success you want in your life. However, I promise that if you listen to what I say you will be amongst the more successful people.

I also tell you that you enter this world in times when the most pronounced words are COVID, Quarantine, Lockdown and I know you feel that you are losing a lot. However, I want to assure you as Sundar Pichai says “ You will Prevail” as there was the batch of 1920 which graduated at the end of a deadly pandemic the Spanish flu and several other batches in different difficult circumstances they all prevailed. Remember you will prevail because God is putting you through hot fire to make you the best steel. I belief, you will make us feel proud.

Before I leave and end my speech, I am aware that this being a law school and a fresher orientation of law students, I have not spoken anything about the subject. I also don’t intend to because I know for the next 5 years you will be only learning that, but being the director of this esteemed institution I want to take this opportunity to give you one of your first law lesson, never forget this lesson irrespective of whatever career path you choose. Look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX5aRzXUzJo-

I hope my message is loud and clear. Being a lawyer is a noble profession. In law, it is not what you tell the judge, once you enter the learning experience you will understand there are many laws and further there are many exceptions to those laws. Thus, if you want to protect your client the way you present your case and the words that you use in communicating the facts and issues to the judge is particularly important.

Thank you, have a wonderful 5 years journey.

PROF. (DR.) SARFARAZ AHMED KHAN

WELCOME ADDRESS  AT THE INAUGURAL FUNCTION OF WEEK LONG INDUCTION PROGRAMME FOR BA LLB AND BBA LLB STUDENTS AT SYMBIOSIS LAW SCHOOL HYDERABAD ON 28TH SEPTEMBER 2020

Hon’ble Justice A. K. Sikri Sir, Respected Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Ukey  Sir, Respected Madam Swati Lakra, Prof. Kris Gledhill, Respected Madam Vibha Datta Makhija, Respected Mr Shailendra Komatreddy sir, my colleagues Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Kumar Jain, Col. S.S. Joshi, Dr Anuradha Binnuri, Dr Srinivas B, my colleagues from faculty and administration, all parents and guardians and all my dear students, a very warm Good Morning to all of you.

It is indeed a great Honour and Privilege to have Hon’ble Justice A. K. Sikri Sir, Judge, Singapore International Commercial Court and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India, amidst us today. Sir your presence is a blessing for our new students and your guidance will be a treasure for them to preserve throughout their life. We are grateful to you for accepting our invitation to be Chief Guest in the Inauguration function of the Induction Programme. I welcome you, sir.  

 I would also like to welcome Prof. (Dr.) Dilip Ukey, Vice-Chancellor MNLU. Sir these students are entering a new journey to study law. May your presence today mentor them to enhance their educational skills and utilize them for best interest. I welcome you, sir.

I would like to welcome Madam Swati Lakra, ADGP Women's Safety Wing Telangana police, dear ma'am may your presence make all students hearing you today aspire to stand for the rights and empowerment of women in the country with the help of legal instrumentalities which they will gather in this institution. I welcome you, Ma’am.

I now would like to Welcome Prof. Kris Gledhill, Auckland  University of Technology Law School, New Zealand your presence here today makes me think that COVID has brought people closer to each other, may your presence today help this new batch understand the international spectrum and scope of law. I welcome you, sir.

I welcome Madam Vibha Datta Makhija, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. May your presence enlighten my student today to be a great litigator and give them real motivation to become a Zealous Advocate which the country needs today. I welcome you, Ma’am.

I now would like to welcome Mr Shailendra Komatreddy sir, Managing Partner, Tatva Legal, Hyderabad. May your presence today instil in my students the confidence to become a great corporate lawyer and understand the importance of deadline and time. I welcome you, sir.

I also welcome my colleagues Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Kr. Jain, Director SIBM Hyderabad, our campus administrator Col. S. S. Joshi, our Dy. Director Dr Anuradha Binnauri, our Examination Head Dr Srinivas Bandameedi, and all our faculty members and administrative staff present today. We welcome you all.

I am delighted to welcome all the parents and want to thank all of you for choosing SLS-H as a partner for educating and shaping the career of your children. Dear parents, please be rest assured that you have made the right choice and we at SLS-H always strive to make the best out of each student. We welcome you all.    

Dear Students, we congratulate you for getting selected for SLS-H and becoming part of Symbiosis Family.

Today is a big day. I would say today is a day of celebration to mark the beginning of a new journey to a new world. Dear students, now for the next few minutes I speak directly to you. During this interaction, I intend to give you one important key to unlock this new world and to sustain it–I call it the golden key of goal setting.

John Maxwell[1]once said “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” I must agree that 5 years is a long time and enough time to generate and understand potential and excel in your desired field if you fix your goal appropriately. The golden key that I now present to you is all about how you set the goal. I want you all to be SMART. I know you all are smart, intelligent, and good students for a fact that you have crossed the competitive selection procedure and today you are sitting before me to hear your induction week welcome address.

But what I meant from SMART here is established Management Goal Setting Theory, explained by G. T. Doran, it consists of five alphabets SMART[2] and for you, this is the golden key to unlock your success. These 5 pointers will help you develop a smart goal. Let us see what SMART stands for-

The First alphabet ‘S’ stands for Specific. Your goal must be specific which ideally means that it should be simple, sensible, significant. Make sure that you are extremely specific with your goal. Do not dream of a thousand goal. Just aim a bullseye.

The second alphabet ‘M’ stand for Measurable. It might be difficult to always measure your goal but there must be some meaningful or motivating measurable objects that you design to measure accessibility to your goal . Make sure you can track the progress of your goals.

Before going to the third alphabet, let me quote Rudyard Kipling, who in the year 1912 said, ‘I keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I know; Their names are What, Why,  When How, Where, Who? Utilize these six men well dear students, utilize them when you are fixing your goal or at any stage you need to raise questions to utilize any of the six words and seek the answer. This will help in not only fixing goal but attaining it too.

The third alphabet is ‘A’ stand for Achievable. This implies that try  to have a goal which stretches your ability but remains possible

The fourth alphabet is ‘R’ stand for Relevant. This implies it should be reasonable, realistic, resourced and results-based. Make sure your plan drives you forward and keeps you authentic. That is to say, your goal must be realistic.

The last alphabet T stand for Time-bound. This implies time-based, time-limited, time/cost limited, timely and/or time-sensitive. Fix some deadlines to reach it, do not procrastinate.

Remember this Golden Key and always be SMART in fixing your goal.

Let me now give you some idea about the place where you will spend a precious half-decade of your life so that you and your parent feel much comfortable. The SLS-H campus where you will be coming soon is a robust and plentiful boasting world-class state of the art infrastructure and an environment-friendly atmosphere with lush green fields spread across the periphery of the campus. This provides for vibrant student life and adequate space for stimulating student activities thereby creating a conducive academic environment and encouraging personality development. The SLS-H since inception, become a pioneer in conducting research and establishing various Cells and Centres and it now boasts of about 28 functional and active Cells and Centres. It has also signed several Memorandum of Understandings with key governmental and non-governmental institutions including Memorandum of Understanding between the Legal Aid Cell and The Women Safety Wing of the Telangana State Police. It has also organized more than 9 National and International Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums, around 9 training programs and capsule courses, more than 25 webinars, numerous guest lectures and various other special events and celebrations in the recent academic cycle. The current year newsletter ‘Stride’ is a testimonial to such gigantic activities, both curricular and extra-curricular activities at SLS-H.

I welcome you all again to enjoy the campus and prove yourself an asset for the university.

Thank you, have a wonderful 5 years journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1]John Calvin Maxwell is an American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership.

[2]In 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting theory of motivation, available at <https://www.managementstudyguide.com/goal-setting-theory-motivation.htm> access 27-9-2020. In the year 1981 G. T. Doran explain it elaborately in his article; Doran, G. T. (1981). "There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives", Management Review, Vol. 70, Issue 11, pp. 35-36. See for more information: <https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/brief-history-of-smart-goals.php> access 27-9-2020.

73^rd Independence Day – Director’s Speech

Respected Prof. (Dr.) O. P. Shukla Sb, Principal NDA, Respected Dr. Geoffrey Clements, Chairman, Commonwealth Infrastructure Partner, My Colleague Prof. (Dr.) Ravi Kr. Jain, Director, SIBM-Hyderabad, my colleagues – faculty members and administrative staffs, and dear students, a very warm greetings to everyone present here to celebrate 73^rd Independence Day with full spirits. 

Sare Jahan Se Acha Hindustan Hamara

Hum Bulbulen hain Uski Ye Gulstan hamara

It is my immense pleasure to stand here in front of you all and deliver my address for today.  We as Indians have come a long way as we complete 72 years of our Independence from the British rule.  It is important that we always cherish this great day remembering our freedom fighters’ struggle. Without them, it is impossible for each and every one of us to experience the joy of living in a free country. Therefore, let us not forget the sacrifices of our leaders.  Moreover, it is very crucial to remember that the Indian freedom struggle was based on the principles of non-violence movement, taught by the great spiritual leader and the Father of our Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

When the Britishers left us, we were hollow and ripped off our wealth. We did not have a foundation to firmly stand by ourselves as a country. We did everything from scratch whether it was creating the constitutional framework, or granting rights or drafting laws. Now we are counted amongst the list of world’s biggest democratic nations.

Constitution’s preamble prescribed for India which will ensure – Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. While we have achieved enormously in last 72 years, there is still a long way to go.

It’s times to introspect. The victims of mass atrocities whether that happened in Kashmir to Kashmir pundits, or to Punjabis during 80s or to Muslims in innumerable riots including Gujarat or incident such as mob lynching where just this week all the perpetrators got acquittal; victims are waiting for justice.

Liberty, Equality and Fraternity – again we need to introspect ourself how much we have achieved and what is lacking. With the year 2020 around its corner,  we as citizens need to ponder vision of  Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s. With many great objectives for development of India, he emphasized on reducing the rural-urban divide, equitable distribution of resources, education with good value system, corruption free country, etc. As students of law, you must go through his vision and see how far we have come as a country. Because, freedom without responsibilities to work towards excellence is futile.

          Remember, when I talked about mass atrocities it is non-state actors who are involve. How we can develop a society where such situation will never arises. The answer is lying in the fulfilment of our “Fundamental duties”.  

Therefore, it becomes extremely crucial to realize our fundamental duties particularly article 51 A – clause j that states “to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement” It’s you, the youth, backbone of our country, who will bring positive changes and take our country to reach new heights of growth and prosperity.

History is testimony that we one of the world’s largest democracy have faced difficult questions time and again. However, the same history is also a proof to us that we have come out of it as we held on to our belief in ‘Unity in Diversity’. So, let us come together to celebrate our victories and resolve to work on ourselves in making our country better.

Thank you everyone for being present here today.

Jai Hind, Jai Hind, Jai Hind