Shanthamallesh R

Shanthmallesh.R

Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Bengaluru.

“I graduated from the College from 3 years batch between 2002 to 2005.  Its humbling to share that I topped the batch and secured first rank in LLB for the University of Mysore that year. It’s also my pleasure to share that I secured all the gold medals for that batch from the University. More than these academic achievements, the memories of the journey in Law College are more profound and cherishable. Friends of my college days are true friends even to this day and the memories of fun time spent with them are part of good memories of my life. The intense preparations during the preparations for inter college moot court and client interviewing competition in which I participated with my friends provided me an insight into life and dedication required for being an Advocate. Legal aid programs at villages and NSS camps organised by the college opened us up to the realities of rural life and legal problems and degree of legal awareness of the common people. The chamber visits and court visits during the final year exposed us to the challenges of the profession.

The discipline imbibed by our Principal Sri. Suresh Sir is sine qua non for being an Advocate. The simplicity and versatility of Late Venugopal sir popularly known as “Venuji” is etched in my memory. I fondly remember my interactions with various teachers in and outside the classroom specially, Sri. Nagendra Murthy sir, Sri. Shivanand Bharti sir, Late Diwakar sir, Smt Vineetha Ma’am, Smt Vanishree Ma’am, Smt Vidya Ma’am, Sri Nataraj sir, Sri Phaneesh sir, Sri Prasad sir and Sri Dharmendra sir.  I have continued my association with the college as an Alumnus and also by participating in moot court competitions conducted by college every year as one of the judges to the competition for most of the years. In the final year, I also cleared Preliminary exam of Gazetted Probationers Examination conducted by Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) popularly Known as “KAS” Exam. After the final exams, I pursued Company Secretary course from ICSI (Institute of Company Secretaries of India) and final KAS exam. The next year I was appointed as Commercial Tax officer after the interview conducted by KPSC. Due to the appointment, I could not tread the path of starting the practice as an Advocate. But I continued my journey as a student through distance education and hold to my credit, completing final exams of ICSI and three master degrees including LLM in Business Laws, M Com in Business Policy and corporate governance, M A in English Literature. Being in Government service, I had the opportunity of serving at Various places of Karnataka like Chikmagalur, Shivamogga, Arasikere, Hubballi and Bengaluru in various capacities and I am presently working as Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes at Bengaluru. Having the law background has surely distinguished me in the service and given an edge over others as any administration involves execution of law in general and more so being a taxman administering GST (Goods and Services Tax) in specific. Law teaches you to be a student forever in the pursuit of knowledge. Living in a constitutional democracy, every walk of life is governed by law and provides an opportunity for legal profession and legal background provides an edge over others in endeavour of life.  Specialisation is the order of the day and legal profession has no exemption from it. My words of wisdom to the students of law would be to be a student forever and specialise in any area of your interest.

I would thank the college for providing me this opportunity to share my insights as a student of law and my journey so far. Life is nothing but some amount of time, energy and some profound experience and memories. Keep enriching it.”