Tribute to Soli Sorabjee - Quintessential Parsee and a Legal Luminary with Diverse interests.

Images : courtesy Wiki and Dr Pheroza Godrej.

The Covid 19 infection  has taken away  life of the nonagenarian legal luminary - Padma Vibhushan, Soli Sorabjee, who has left behind a constitutional legal legacy that will be remembered for generations to come. Providentially he died in a private hospital in south Delhi, on Friday, 30th April, the International Day of Jazz, a western music of which, Sorabjee was a great connoisseur. The tragic news of the demise of Soli Sorabjee was soon followed by a series of flowing tributes that came in thick and fast on tweeter and other social media platforms and so also in the main stream media. The Honourable President of India - Shri Ram Nath Kovind Ji tweeted ‘In passing of Soli Sorabjee, we lost an icon of India’s legal system. He was among select few who deeply influenced the evolution of the constitutional law and justice system. Awarded with Padma Vibhushan, he was among most eminent jurists. Condolences to his family and associates”. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, joined the President and wrote his tribute on Twitter: “Shri Soli Sorabjee was an outstanding lawyer and intellectual. Through law, he was at the forefront of helping the poor and downtrodden. He will be remembered for his noteworthy tenures as India’s Attorney General. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his family and admirers.” The Chief Justice of India - Shri NV Ramana, was joined by his fellow Judges of the Supreme Court - Justices Surya Kant and AS Bopanna, in paying their homage to Sorabjee just before the start of the day’s court proceedings via video conference, where they said, “It’s a very sad news that human rights fighter Soli has passed away this morning. We pray for the gentle soul.” Political leaders - cutting across party lines, legal luminaries, businessmen and innumerable others joined in to pay their homage to Soli Sorabjee. I join them all in paying my humble respect and tribute to Soli Sorabjee. 

Soli Sorabjee was one among many Parsi community leaders who have continued that great tradition of contributing to the city of Mumbai, which is known for its vibrant economic and cultural richness and even more vibrancy in its diversity. Sorabjee’s contributions to the legal fraternity in India is quintessentially as profound as other major contributions and the legacy of the Parsee community to India in general and Mumbai in particular. The contributions of Parsee community have been beautifully evidenced and succinctly summed up in the words of the father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi ji, who said ; “It is one of the supreme wonders of God that, though the Parsee community does not number more than a hundred thousand in the whole world, it has made a name for itself everywhere by virtue of its many illustrious qualities. It can be said that it is this community, which holds power in India. Bombay is the real capital of India, it owes its prosperity mainly to the Parsees.” Soli Sorabjee embodied the saying of the Mahatma and his legacy will be ever remembered. 

As pointed out by the Mahatma, it is the contributions of the Parsees, among others, that makes the city of Mumbai very special. One such institution among many others, which embody the artistic and cultural vibrancy of the city of Mumbai that also owes its genesis to a great Parsee - Cowasjee Jehangir,  is the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA, Mumbai) an institution of international repute that functions under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. I was quite fortunate to have headed this institution - NGMA, Mumbai, from February 2013-October 2018. During this tenure, I also had an honour to  share the platform with Soli Sorabjee on one occasion when he along with Dr Farukh Udwadia and Cyrus Poonawala were invited for the opening of two exhibitions ‘ACROSS OCEANS & FLOWING SILKS: FROM CANTON TO BOMBAY 18th – 20th CENTURIES” and ‘NO PARSI IS AN ISLAND’ at NGMA, Mumbai. The former exhibition was curated by Dr Pheroza Godrej, who incidentally was also the Chairperson of NGMA, Mumbai and the later by Ranjit Hoskote and Nancy Adajania. These exhibitions were inaugurated on 26th December, 2013 at NGMA Mumbai and I had the honour to be holding the additional charge as the Director of NGMA Mumbai  when these two monumental exhibitions were presented. These two exhibitions coincided with the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress, which opened in Mumbai on 27th December, 2013.

It was therefore no wonder that both the two exhibitions at NGMA Mumbai, received an overwhelming response from visitors - particularly Parsees, who thronged every nook and corner of the NGMA premises during the opening ceremony, which was addressed by Soli Sorabjee, and so also all through the Zoroastrian Congress meet in Mumbai. The inaugural address by the two distinguished Parsee luminaries - Dr Farukh Udwadia and Soli Sorabjee, in a way not only paved the way for the success of the NGMA exhibition but also set the ball rolling for the 27th World Zoroastrian Congress, which brought together Parsis from across the world to Mumbai to discuss culture and the issues that Parsee community faces. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the two exhibitions at NGMA, Dr Farukh Udwadia articulated his thoughts on the historical circumstances under which the Parsee community had to endear religious persecution from the Islamic invasion that led to the Parsees fleeing from their Persian land to the unknown territory in the Gujrat coast in India and how the community has, ever since, mixed and mingled so very well with the Indian community. Dr Udwadia also spoke on the genesis of how the pastoral city of Bombay (Mumbai now) was converted into the modern vibrant city, courtesy the Parsees and other leaders who helped build ships and crossed seas to trade with the Chinese, primarily the Opium trade. It was the reference to the Opium trade and so also the theme of the exhibition that enticed Soli Sorabjee to regale his audience with unending episodes of laughter during his inaugural speech. Soli Sorabjee said that Farookh Udwadia’s romanticism of the Opium trade and how it helped the Parsee community to grow wealthy has tempted him to kind of a try tasting Opium and that if he gets addicted to it, like the Chineses, who better to bring him out of the Opium addiction than his fellow Parsee Doctor, Farukh Udwadia - the best Doctor in Mumbai. 

Soli Sorabjee opened his speech by saying that the Parsees as a community in India are ‘contemptible in their low numbers, magnificent in their achievement’. He cited reference of some of the greatest Parsees who contributed to India and to the city of Mumbai. It was a pleasant surprise for me that he first took the name of Homi Bhabha - the scientist, and narrated his monumental contributions in starting the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, which laid the foundations for the Atomic Research in India. He cited several other examples of the multitudes of Parsees and their contributions in diverse fields from shipping ( the Wadias ), business - Tata’s, Godrej and others, Judiciary, Jurist - Dinshah Fardunji Mulla and Karl Khandelwal, Aviation - Aspy Engineer, who won the Aga Khan Cup defeating another Parsi Aviation aficionado - JRD Tata. He highlighted that all the three Engineer brothers - Minor, Aspy and Ronnie,  served the Indian Airforce. Aspy Engineer went on to be the Chief of the IAF and then during his term as MD of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - HAL, the indigenously designed Marut aircraft took to air. He spoke about other Parsees namely ; Admiral Jal Cursetji, who is remembered as the Chief of Naval Staff in whose tenure the Coast Guard was formed and the Navy took over the responsibility of maritime air reconnaissance. Sorabjee also spoke about the sense of humour that the Parsees have which he embodies. He spoke about Field Marshal Manekshah and the great musician Zubin Mehta. He did not forget to mention the names of the Parsee couple known for their Jazz - Chris Perry and Lorna Cordeiro. Speaking of Jazz, he turned to the lady who introduced him and said ‘ you have told many good things about me while introducing me for which I am very happy and grateful but you missed one of the  most important thing - I am the President of the Capital Jazz, The Jazz India Delhi Chapter. The glow on his face when he spoke about Jazz was emblematic of his love for this western music. It is therefore definitely a providential coincidence that he died on the International Day of Jazz. Sorabjee’s speech was laced with unending humour, which meant that there were spells of laughter all around in the audience all through his inaugural speech. This made the opening ceremony of the exhibition one of the most memorable that I have been a part of and this will remain etched in my memory. Sorabjee even said that Napoleons Cook was a Parsee. He added - tongue in cheek,  May be the British intelligence planted him in the Napoleons army.

Soli Sorabjee was born on 9th March 1930,  in the city of Bombay (Mumbai now) and did his schooling and subsequently joined for his college at St Xavier College, Mumbai. He then completed his Law at the Government Law college in Mumbai in 1952 and was then admitted to the Bar at the Bombay High Court in 1953. Among the several cases for which Sorabjee will be remembered one of them is his association with Nani Palkhivala, who he assisted, in the landmark Keshavananda Bharati case, which was adjudicated by a 13 member bench. In 1971, Sorabjee was designated a senior advocate in the Supreme Court. He subsequently served as the Solicitor General of India from 1977 to 1980

In his seven decades long innings at the Bar, Sorabjee has appeared in several cases, particularly the civil liberties cases. He is famously known for the S R Bommai, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, case which sets out the primacy of the federal structure of our democracy. It was in the year 1994 that Sorabjee argued for SR Bommai against the Union of India against the proclamation of President’s rule. Until then it was generally believed that the office of the Governor of the state - Karnataka, enjoys special protection under the Constitution. This meant that there will be likelihood of the misuse of the office of the Governor of a state by the Centre for proclamation of the Governors rule. This is exactly what had happened with Mr Bommai and Sorabjee won this historic case for his client and thus began a new era of the office of the Governor coming under the subject of judicial review, despite the protection that the office of the Governor enjoys under the constitution. The Bommai case continues to be the guiding factor and is still the operative law for scrutinising actions of Governors. In the Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, which resulted in the loss of many innocent lives, Sorabjee represented the victims, leading the criminal prosecution against Union Carbide which had engaged a battery of stalwart legal,luminaries which included Nani Palkhiwala, Fali Nariman, Anil Divan. Sorabjee successfully defended the gas victims before the 1989 settlement was reached under the Supreme Court’s supervision, clinching a substantial compensation of $470 million.  It must be remembered that Sorabjee too was approached by the Union Carbide Corporation Company to appear on their behalf, which he rejected out rightly. 

Sorabjee’s conviction for protection of the human rights were visible in most cases, which he passionately fought in the courts of law. He also represented the 1984 Sikh riots victims in the Court and that too for free. However, as Attorney General, Sorabjee came in for huge criticism for advising the NDA government not to pursue the extradition of Warren Anderson, which he firmly believed would be a long and arduous protracted legal problem, which the Government would find it too difficult to follow. In another case involving Ms. Maneka Gandhi against the Union of India — known as the passport impounding case — Sorabjee, despite appearing for the government, defended the petitioner’s right to be heard. The court in this case held that ‘due process is substantive and not merely procedural when it comes to personal liberty’.

There is one case which Sorabjee fought and won for the Government, which I have personally referred while dealing with a similar case in our office. This case relates to one of our employee who was a probationer and was completely found to be wanting and therefore his continuance would serve no purpose to the office. However our administration was of the opinion that the probationer must be served with warnings and memorandum, bringing to his notice his drawbacks. Having read a similar case which Sorabjee defended for the Government, I was convinced that Sorabjee’s argument that a probationer has no right of hearing and principles of natural justice do not apply to his termination unless there is some allegation of inefficiency or laziness, I was not inclined to take the advice of our administration much to the consternation of my head quarters. The argument of Sorabjee had appealed to the judge who came down on the probationer’s advocate and asked him if the authorities had called his client a ‘lazy fellow’.

Sorabjee will be remembered for his work on human rights globally. In recognition of his achievements to fight for the civil liberties and human rights, in the year 1997, Sorabjee was appointed by the United Nations as a Special Rapporteur for Nigeria to report on the human rights conditions in that country. Sorabjee also served as the chairman of the UN sub-committee on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights during the period 1998-2004. Soli Sorabjee has the distinction of serving as the Attorney General for India on two occasions – first for a brief period from 1989 to 1990 and again from 1998 to 2004. 

Sorabjee was very found of Atalji, and said that his personality and popularity transcended borders. In one of his innumerable news paper articles that Sorabjee wrote, he recalls that he had several interactions with Atal Ji the Prime Minister. One such occasion was when Atal Ji wanted Sorabjee’s view on J Jayalalithaa’s persistent pressure on him to impose President’s Rule in Tamil Nadu or issue directions against M  Karunanidhi. Sorabjee advised Atal Ji that such action would be legally untenable. Sorabjee came to the rescue of the government as a gallant attorney general on several occasions. The famous BALCO case is another example of Sorabjee’s legal brilliance, where he was pitted against some of the best legal luminaries in the country, yet he won the case for the government. The case involved an important question of judicial intervention in executive decisions or action. The case was argued for about two weeks and there was a battery of senior counsel challenging the government’s action. Sorabjee represented the Government of India in the Supreme Court and successfully repelled the legal challenge. So pleased was the Prime Minister - Atal Vajpayee Ji, who was actually on an official tour to Japan, that he called up from Japan to congratulate and thank Sorabjee for winning the case for the government. In one of his articles Sorabjee speaks of this incident and says “ I am not aware of any prime minister phoning his law officer from abroad to congratulate him for winning a case for the government”. Sorabjee has shared several such anecdotal experiences that he had in his legal career and one such incident is his experience of getting counselled by Shri Morarji Desai - the Prime Minister, to quit his alcohol habits, which unfortunately Sorabjee could not abide.

Sorabjee continued to be a member of the United Nations Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities since 1998. He also served as member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague from 2000 to 2006. Sorabjee will ever be remembered as a champion of freedom of speech and expression. Whenever there were cases, which pertained to defending of the freedom of press, Sorabjee was always there to fight for such cases and he had been involved in many landmark cases in the Supreme Court of India and has also been successful in revoking censorship orders and bans on publications. It is for his extraordinary service for his defense of freedom of speech and the protection of human rights that Sorabjee was honored with the second most prominent civilian award of the country - Padma Vibhushan award, which was conferred on him in March, 2002.

Sorabjee was also known for his plain speak, even if that was at divergence with the thoughts of his close friends. One such incident is his forthright support to the CJI and other Supreme Court Judges during a time when it had become quite fashionable to level baseless allegations against the CJI. He said “ If we do not trust judges of the Supreme Court, then God save the country. We must put a lid upon the unfortunate controversy and save the institution, the office of the Chief Justice of India, from further damage”. He added in one of his articles “It is unfortunate that some, at lavish dinner parties, are raising fingers for untenable reasons against the three judges of the Supreme Court who gave the report, without understanding the genesis and purpose of the in-house procedure. More unfortunate is my good friend Karan Thapar’s conclusion that it is a sad day for the judiciary. Let me remind him that the in-house procedure is published on the website of the Supreme Court has stood the test of time”.

Sorabjee had other interests too and prime among them was his unending love for Jazz. He was truly a great aficionado of Jazz and played the Clarinet quite well. His vast collections of the Jazz in various formats were a treat for all Jazz lovers, which his neighbour in Delhi, Shri Abhishek Singhvi has written in his obituary note that was published in the Times of India yesterday. Sorabjee recalls that when he met the US President in the Rashtrapati Bhavan - when he was the attorney general of India, Sorabjee spoke to Bill Clinton about jazz musician, Lester Young, who was nicknamed the “President”. Clinton was pleasantly surprised that an Indian attorney general was familiar with an American musician, whose nickname was President. Sorabjee has mentioned that Jazz was his first love and that he loved playing his Clarinet, which he stopped playing because of his breathing problems. Sorabjee was one of the prime organisers of the annual Jazz Yatra, a week-long music festival, which was held every year from 1978 to 2003. Sorabjee believed that jazz deeply influenced the way he practised the law. Sorabjee has said that Jazz helped him improvise, as the situation demanded in court. He was very found of Rudy Cotton and Chic Choclate, exponents of Jazz and he firmly believed that there should be a memorial concert for them which he organised. 

With the passing away of Soli Sorabjee a legal era has ended. However his legacy of freedom will live on in India and Sorabjee will ever be remembered.

Rest in peace Soli Sorabjee.