The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) will hold its 34th convocation on October 17, sources said.

The University’s Executive Council and General Council approved the new date on Wednesday.

As per the decision, all graduating students will be formally conferred their degrees on October 17, either in person or in absentia. Students have been asked to indicate their preferred mode of receiving the degree by filling out a form.

The convocation was earlier scheduled for September 12 but was cancelled by NLSIU citing “unavoidable circumstances”.

The cancellation came after a section of graduating students opposed a demand to publicly invite Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant to the ceremony. More than 700 current and former NLSIU students had earlier raised objections to the proposed presence of CJI Kant and Bar Council of India (BCI) Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra at the convocation.

The students’ objections came after the BCI had, on August 13, briefly halted the enrolment of NALSAR’s graduating batch after students objected to the proposed presence of CJI Kant at their convocation. The enrolment was restored within hours.

CJI Kant, who is also the Chancellor of NLSIU, later met students to understand their concerns. Following the meeting, students were asked to vote on whether they would attend a convocation with the CJI present, provided there was no protest or disruption. They were also informed that BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra would not attend the event.

The August 23 vote showed majority support for the arrangement, with students considering it preferable to cancellation.

However, the terms were changed two days later. On August 25, students were informed that they would also have to issue a public statement inviting the CJI.

As no agreement could be reached on the issue, NLSIU cancelled the convocation scheduled for September 12.

The university has now fixed October 17 as the new date for the 34th convocation.