Fali Sam Nariman, eminent Indian jurist and author, dies at 95

The last big case that Nariman appeared in the Supreme Court pertained to the tradition of excommunication in the Dawoodi Bohra community.

Fali Sam Nariman, a senior advocate and former member of the Rajya Sabha, passed away on February 21, 2024, at the age of 95. A recipient of both Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibushan in 1991 and 2007, Nariman is one of the most respected Indian lawyers globally and a constitutional visionary par excellence.

Born in Myanmar in 1929, Nariman’s family migrated to India when the Japanese bombed and conquered the country in 1941. In his autobiography ‘Before Memory Fades,’ Nariman stated that his family had to walk to India in the aftermath of the Japanese attack. The senior advocate pursued law at the legendary Government Law College (GLC) in Mumbai in 1950. Nariman also taught at the college after establishing his practice.

Nariman joined the chambers of Jamshedji Kanga, a very popular senior advocate from the ‘Bombay’ bar. According to Nariman’s autobiography, joining Kanga’s chambers was ‘the most important prop’ to his professional career. He would go on to practice in the Bombay High Court for two more decades before shifting to Delhi in 1972.

“I was married for nearly 17 years when the next turning point in my life occurred,” Fali said in his book after being appointed as an Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in the Supreme Court by the Indira Gandhi government in 1972. According to Nariman, his shift to Delhi as an ASG was met with a lukewarm response in the Delhi bar. According to the book, some of the members of the Delhi bar resented the appointment of a Union government law officer from Bombay and even drew up a protest resolution against it. However, the same people who drew up the protest resolution would become Nariman’s close friends in the future.

However, Nariman resigned from the ASG post in Jun 1975 after the internal emergency was declared. According to the book, “With the imposition of censorship, the news of my resignation was suppressed in the Indian press. However, it was published in the New York Times and in a few other newspapers abroad. Hence, the news trickled in from overseas.”

The senior advocate never took up a governmental position after 1975. He, however, served as a member of parliament at Rajya Sabha between 1999 and 2005.

Personal life

Nariman married Bapsi in 1955. The couple have a son, Rohinton Nariman, and a daughter, Anaheeta. Rohinton, an ordained Zoroastrian priest, is a retired Supreme Court judge and one of the most successful lawyers in recent times. Rohinton served as a judge of the Supreme Court from 2014 to 2021; prior to that, he served as the Solicitor General (SG) of India between July 2011 and February 2013. Interestingly, Rohinton did not work in his father’s chambers in his initial days but was a junior to former attorney general KK Venugopal.

Bapsi passed away in 2020, after which Nariman rather withdrew from active public life. He occasionally appeared on the Supreme Court and gave a few interviews.

Famous cases

The last big case that Nariman appeared in the Supreme Court pertained to the tradition of excommunication in the Dawoodi Bohra community. Nariman appeared for the community and argued against the case being referred to a larger constitution bench to ascertain whether excommunication is an essential part of the Dawoodi Bohra community. However, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court in February 2023 referred the case to a nine-judge bench. After the judgment was delivered, Nariman looked at his junior colleagues and said, “You might have to argue this case now.”

Nariman appeared for Union Carbide in the Bhopal gas disaster case and played a key role in a settlement between the victims and the company. However, years later, he admitted that appearing for the company was a mistake. In 2014-15, Nariman appeared in the Supreme Court Advocates on Record (AoR) Association case, which struck down the central government’s National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) law, which envisaged a panel for appointment of judges to higher. In the early 90s, he had appeared in the second judge’s case, which made for the creation of the SC collegium in its present form. He called it “A case I won- But which I would prefer to have lost.”

In 2014, Nariman appeared for Tamil Nadu’s former chief minister, J. Jayalalithaa, in the SC and successfully obtained bail for her in the disproportionate assets case. The lower court and the Karnataka High Court had rejected her bail plea.