HYDERABAD: Even after 22 years and eight degrees his thirst for knowledge continues. P B Vijaya Kumar, an advocate with the Andhra Pradesh High Court, has just completed his latest academic milestone. He has obtained an LL.D degree, thus becoming the first High Court advocate to earn both a Ph.D and LL.D.
The Legal Legis Doctor is a post-doctorate degree in the field of law.
Berhampur University in Orissa is the only one in the country that offers an LL.D degree. The research topic that Vijaya Kumar chose was ‘Supreme Court and Complete Justice’, where he has examined SC decisions from 1950 onwards.
Though he took 5 years to finish the LL.D he is not resting on his laurels and has moved onto the next degree: he is doing another post-doctoral thesis on ‘Jurimetrics of Supreme Court’ from National Law University at Patna where he is examining the relationship between law and psychology. ‘I take virgin areas of law as my research subjects,’’ said Vijaya Kumar in a media interaction. The Chairman of the AP Legislative Council, A Chakrapani, also spoke on the occassion. He said that the legal system was streched to its limit because of shortage of judges.
He suggested that there could be more branches of the Supreme Court and High Courts to reduce the backlog of cases.
“Branches of the Apex Court can be established in the Southern region, Western region and Northeastern region. Similarly there can be more branches of the High Court,’’ he said.
Vijaya Kumar started his academic odessey in 1986. Along the way he acquired post-graduate degrees in Public Administration from Osmania, Commerce from Andhra University, MBA from IGNOU, MSc from Madras University and MTech from Punjab University. And all this as a practicing High Court advocate! Doesn’t Vijaya Kumar ever get bored of studying? “Some people are interested in acquiring wealth, I acquire knowledge,’’ says the academic advocate. In recognition of his academic achievements he has been designated as honorary professor by the University of Hyderabad and Andhra University. “All my academic pursuits are connected to law in some way or the other,’’ says Vijaya Kumar.
He has even presented a Ph.D thesis on cyber forensics in the Department of Computer Science of Andhra University.
