Sunday, February 15, 2015

Nani Palkhivala-The Law Genius

Nani Palkhivala – The most formidable gladiator of the legal colosseum who, with his phenomenal linguistic prowess and pristine legal acumen, had ruled the Indian legal arena, for more than five decades. Author of finest commentaries on the law and practice in Income Tax, Nani Palkhivala was a supreme lawyer, the nation had ever seen. The most important constitutional law cases of all time, viz., Golak Nath, Bank Nationalisation, Privy Purses, Kesavananda Bharati, St. Xavier’s, Mandal Commission, the Election Commission matter, were all argued by Palkhivala apart from representing the country in major international disputes. Apart from being the most successful lawyer of independent India, he had also been an extraordinary philanthropist, whose generosity was loud in action but quiet in publicity. I happened to read a fine book which chronicled the legend’ journey and also the landmark cases he had argued. The title of the book is “Nani Palkhivala – The Courtroom Genius” authored by two of the most revered lawyers of our time – Shri. Soli J. Sorabjee and Shri. Arvind. P. Datar. True to their words: “No student of law, no lawyer, no chartered accountant, no member of the judiciary, and no well-informed citizen can afford to miss reading this book.”

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