Esteemed jurist Fali S Nariman passes away
Esteemed jurist and senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Fali Sam Nariman, passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 95.
He received the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2007.
Throughout his illustrious career, Nariman was involved in numerous landmark cases. He authored an autobiography titled When Memory Fades, dedicating a chapter to the Bhopal gas leak case, in which he served as senior counsel for the Union Carbide Corporation.
Nariman, a renowned constitutional expert, argued in several significant cases, including the notable National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) verdict of 2015, which led to the establishment of the collegium system.
He also played a pivotal role in cases like the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association vs Union of India case (1993), which gave back to the chief justice of India the power to appoint and transfer judges, and the TMA Pai Foundation v State of Karnataka case (2002), which decided the scope of the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice under Article 30(1) read with Article 29(2) of the Constitution.
In June 1975, he resigned as the additional solicitor-general of India to protest the Indira Gandhi government’s decision to impose Emergency.
A staunch advocate for civil liberties and secularism, Nariman’s influential opinions on judicial matters carried significant weight. He strongly criticised the December 2023 judgment of the Supreme Court in the Article 370 case, in which the court unanimously upheld the power of the President to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) (a decision taken in August 2019), which led to the reorganisation of the state of J&K into the Union territories of J&K and Ladakh, while denuding J&K of its special rights and privileges.
His son, Rohinton Nariman, served as a judge of the Supreme Court.
