Nani Palkhivala : Jurist

Not in a court of law where he’s the master of all he argues for or against:nationalisation of banks, removal of privy purses, Emergency, fundamental rights. And notoutside it where he’s a lone, stolid tree on the landscape: delivering budgetanalyses as awaited as the finance minister’s proposals, running a successful cementcompany. By his account, his other accomplishments pale before his three-year tussle asCounsel for India before a UN-appointed special tribunal in Geneva to adjudicatePakistan’s claims to the Kutch territories—90 per cent of Pakistan’s claimswere rejected. Palkhivala took no fees. Says he: "I did this for the country."