THE Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass) continues to give back to the community through initiatives such as the S.Venkiteswaran Prizes in Law, which have just been awarded in Mumbai to 44 law students.
Established in 2015 by IRClass in honour of the late Mr S.Venkiteswaran, the prizes recognise academic excellence at the Government Law College Mumbai, which is the oldest of its kind in Asia. Mr Venkiteswaran was a legal luminary and internationally acclaimed stalwart in the field of maritime law. He was the founding president of the Indian Maritime Law Association and served on the Board of IRClass as a director for more than a decade.
On 7 February, 44 students received the prizes at an awards ceremony held at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. IRClass awarded the prizes, which included a citation and a cheque to students scoring the highest and second highest marks across 16 subjects of the Bachelor of Laws course at GLC Mumbai.
Distinguished guests at the awards ceremony included Mr V.Subramanian, the son of the late Mr Venkiteswaran, Prof Homer Pithawalla (professor, GLC Mumbai), Mr Suresh Sinha (managing director, IRClass) and Mr Marco Wadia (director, IRClass) and Mr B.V Nargundkar (senior vice president and company secretary, IRClass).
Prof Pithawalla expressed his gratitude to IRClass and the family of late Mr Venkiteswaran. He noted that the S.Venkiteswaran Prizes in Law are highly sought after, and highlighted the exceptional performance of female undergrads at GLC Mumbai who accounted for more than 80% of this year’s prize recipients.
In his speech, Mr Sinha lauded the contributions made by late Mr Venkiteswaran to IRClass as well as the Indian and international maritime industry.
“Mr Venkiteswaran was an absolute titan in the fields of maritime law and shipping, and his immense contributions serve as an inspiration for generations to come. IRClass’ support for the S.Venkiteswaran Prizes in Law is one way in which his legacy lives on,” he said.
IRClass is an international ship classification society providing ship classification and certification as well as technical inspection services.
