Nanabhoy Palkhivala - Defender of Rights

Defender of Rights

Not only did Nani Palkhivala interpret the constitution as a message of intent, he also saw it as a social mandate with a moral dimension. As he later stated in the Privy Purse case Madhav Rao Jivaji Rao Scindia vs Union of India, (1971) 1 SCC 85]: "The survival of our democracy and the unity and integrity of the nation depend upon the realisation that constitutional morality is no less essential than constitutional legality. Dharma (righteousness; sense of public duty or virtue) lives in the hearts of public men; when it dies there, no Constitution, no law, no amendment, can save it."

He was a strong proponent of the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In an attempt to stifle dissenting opinion, the central government imposed import controls on newsprint in 1972. In the case before the Supreme Court, Palkhivala argued that newsprint was more than just a general commodity: "Newsprint does not stand on the same footing as steel. Steel will yield products of steel. Newsprint will manifest whatever is thought of by man."

In the 1970s, state legislation (education is a subject covered by the Concurrent list in the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution - i.e., both central and state governments can legislate on it) was increasingly encroaching on the rights of minority educational institutions which are protected by articles in the Indian constitution. In a landmark case, Palkhivala argued that the extant right of a state government to administer an academic institution did not extend to a right to mal-administer. The majority of the nine-judge bench upheld his contention, significantly strengthening the rights of the minorities.