Mr R.K. Venkata Ramana Suhas completed his LLM from Indian Law Institute (ILI) with specialisation in constitutional law. He joined as an Assistant Professor in his alma mater, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (VIPS) (affiliated to GGSIPU). He possesses a Diploma in European, International and Comparative Law from the Indian Society of International Law and the Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon. He has presented, assisted and published his research works on various subjects. He strongly believes that hard work and consistency will pave the path for achieving one’s goals.
He has been interviewed by Arshia Jain, EBC-SCC Online Student Ambassador who is currently pursuing law from Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi.
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Sir, kindly introduce yourself for the benefit of our readers and apprise us about your journey so far? Also please share your interests.
I did my BBA LLB from Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (affiliated to GGSIPU) in 2018 and thereafter did my masters from the Indian Law Institute in 2019. I worked in VIPS as an Assistant Professor from 2019 till I cleared the Telangana Judicial Services Examination. I like to read books, specifically on history. I learned Carnatic music for many years and even today would often like to sing as a hobby.
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What motivated you to pursue law, and then go for judicial services?
My father is an Advocate-on-Record and hence I have a family background in legal profession. My father has always been very interested in my education, regularly helping me in my studies and in the course of the same, often our discussions turned to legal matters, which planted a seed of interest in law in me. It was thus, that I took law as a profession. Judicial services have always attracted me. Being a noble profession with a very important role to play in society, I often thought of pursuing a career in judicial services. I however, actually decided to take it seriously and attempt the same when I was pursuing my LLM.
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How was your journey as a student in Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies? Being a VIPS graduate, how far has it helped you to crack this exam?
Law college always plays a very important role in the life and education of any person in legal professions. I have been very fortunate in this regard for the institute has always been a very great help to me in my studies both during my law course as also later, when I was teaching in the institute. My law teachers have often helped me in a great manner in understanding the concepts and specifically the nuances in law, with a rich serving of case laws and examples. They were all knowledgeful in their subjects and have greatly helped me. The infrastructure the college offered is also great. Thus, from our first year, we had access to SCC Online. I must in particular record the great library staff of the law library, who always try to help any student as much as possible. This indeed was very much helpful to me later in my judiciary preparation also during my teaching time.
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Do you think that LLM plays an important role in judicial services examination (JS)?
LLM is important for an aspirant because it helps you to put deeper roots into law. In my experience, the critical study that we undertake and the research that we undertake as part of masters will be very helpful to your functioning as Judges. Indeed, my time at ILI has also taught me to work under pressure for work pressure will be great in judicial duty. So, I think that to do an LLM would be helpful for any judicial service aspirant.
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Readers are curious to know if internships play a prominent role in skill and knowledge development which are in sync with the JS preparations.
Internships help one to understand the practical working of a court at the very least. This is very important for judicial service aspirants who do not have law backgrounds in their families. Even for those aspirants who have law background, it will be extremely beneficial to have an understanding of the working of the court first hand rather than through the experiences of others. This is helpful firstly, because it teaches the practicalities of law and by that enables you to better understand questions that are put to you in the examinations and answer them better, something I learned myself from my experience. Secondly, once you qualify, it helps you a lot to know the procedure that courts follow. While it is true that you observe the working only from the other part of the Bar, it always helps to have the same.
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Given that you were serving as an Assistant Professor, an arduous responsibility how did you manage the preparation of JS alongside?
I was extremely fortunate that the most of the subjects that I taught were of vital importance to judicial services examination. I taught Evidence Act, Penal Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, all of which are extremely important for judicial services examination. This helped me a lot in gaining a firm understanding of the concepts in the subjects in depth. I did have to manage my time as my study of these subjects for my classes and my work at the college took much of my time. But I was able to make enough time to revise the other legislations and laws for the examinations. It has helped me a lot in this that I made a habit of preparing notes of important case studies during my law school, which were greatly helpful to me in my studies.
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How did you plan your preparations, what were the major obstacles you faced while accomplishing your goal? How did you actually manage to hit the bull’s eye?
The major obstacle in my path initially of course was time. I had to make time to study other important subjects for the examination. I could tackle this with careful time management. I was of course assisted in part here because of the fact that lockdown reduced my travel time. It increased my work in some ways since work from home meant a lot of changes, which required extra work on my part to tackle. However, I was still able to take time out to study other subjects. Later, I also faced problems with the lockdown since it meant that physical access to library itself was unavailable to me. This I had to tackle by use extensive of statutes and case laws, which indeed turned out to be a blessing as it is very important to read and understand the terms and sections from the Bare Acts themselves for judicial examinations. At the end, I would say that the key is hard work and perseverance. You must study hard, making good use of your time and at the same time, persevere in your attempt and have a positive approach to your attempts.
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Did you seek any professional guidance?
I took help from my friend and classmate Mr Nilesh Bhardwaj, who is posted as a Judicial Magistrate at Hilsa, Bihar. He has always been a great help to me by often giving me very helpful tips and advice to help me prepare for my judicial services examination. He has also been a constant support to me, encouraging in my efforts. I also took assistance from Ambition Coaching Institute, which has been very helpful in my preparation, specifically for the interview.
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Throughout your journey, what was the compelling factor that kept you going and dedicated towards your goal of becoming judicial officer?
My interest in judicial service, which as I already explained had always attracted me. Secondly, I also received constant encouragement from both my parents and my friends, specifically Mr Nilesh Bhardwaj.
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Our readers would like to know while you got more and more occupied over the years how did you maintain a work-life balance as an aspirant, a professor and at personal front?
I think to maintain work-life balance is an extremely personal matter in the sense that it is dependent upon the circumstances of the person himself, his own interests, his social and family circles and of course his obligations at both personal and professional level. The matrix is different for everyone and hence I feel that the formula is also different for everyone. But I think at the end it lies in the art of drawing a line. You must understand your responsibilities at work and ensure that they are fulfilled. You must as much as possible also devote some time to yourself. I have thus, always tried, to do thing which I enjoy, to study a good book. It always consists I think in the small things, which make your work and life more pleasurable.
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While concluding this discourse, what parting message you would like to share with our budding aspirants.
As I said, hard work and perseverance is the key. Work hard and give every attempt your best but do not get upset if you do not clear every attempt. It is important to have a positive outlook on the work.
