Legal doyen and veteran advocate Fali Sam Nariman passed away in New Delhi on February 21. He was 95.

Nariman was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 1991. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

Practised law for more than 70 years

• Born on January 10, 1929, Nariman was enrolled as an advocate at the Bombay High Court in November 1950 and was designated a senior advocate in 1961.

• Nariman was born in Rangoon (now Yangon) to a well-off business executive. The Nariman family fled to India in the face of the Japanese invasion in 1942 when Fali was 12.

• He practised law for more than 70 years, initially in the Bombay High Court and since 1972, in the Supreme Court.

• Nariman was appointed as the additional solicitor general of India in May 1972. He resigned from the post a day after the imposition of Emergency on June 26, 1975.

• In his long and illustrious legal career, Nariman argued in several landmark cases, including the Bhopal gas tragedy case, TMA Pai case, Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case and the case of the National Judicial Appointments Commission, which was struck down by the Supreme Court.

• He was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha in November 1999.

• In 2018, he was awarded the 19th ‘Lal Bahadur Shastri Award for Excellence in Public Administration’. 

He held many prominent positions:

• The president of the Bar Association of India (BAI), from 1991 to September 2010.

• Vice chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce)  Paris, from 1989 till December 2005.

• President, International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) from October 1994 to May 2002. 

• Council Member of the Human Rights Institute of the IBA (International Bar Association) 1995, and Co–• Chair of the Human Rights Institute of the IBA from 2001 to December 2004.

• Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Geneva, from 1995 to 1997.

Books written by Fali Nariman:

• Before the Memory Fades

• The State of the Nation

• India’s Legal System: Can it be Saved?

• God Save the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

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