Debi Prasad Pal (1 November 1927 – 14 May 2021) was a

Senior Advocate The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

practicing in the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

and

High Courts of India The high courts of India are the highest courts of appellate jurisdiction in each state and union territory of India. However, a high court exercises its original civil and criminal jurisdiction only if the subordinate courts are not authorize ...

. He was a former Minister of State for Finance, a former

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court buildi ...

and a three-time former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) in

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

Early life and education

Debi Prasad Pal was born in 1927 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. His father was noted scholar and educationist Aswini Kumar Pal and mother was Sarala Bala Pal. He did his bachelor's studies in Presidency College and got his M.A. degree from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

. He was awarded the prestigious

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

(D.Litt.) degree soon after that for his outstanding contribution to English literature. He got his

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

(LL.D.) degree in 1961 for his seminal work. He stood first throughout his academic career. He is the son-in-law of Justice

Radhabinod Pal Radhabinod Pal (27 January 1886 – 10 January 1967) was an Indian jurist who was a member of the United Nations' International Law Commission from 1952 to 1966. He was one of three Asian judges appointed to the International Military Tribunal ...

, who was an International Judge.

Legal career

Dr. Pal started practicing in the Calcutta High Court in 1959. He was thereafter appointed a justice in the High Court but resigned within 6 months to rejoin private practice.

Political career

He started his political journey as a member of the Congress party. He contested the Lok Sabha election for the first time in 1989. He was selected by the Congress (I) for the Calcutta North-West parliamentary constituency. He beat his political and legal guru

Ashoke Kumar Sen Ashoke Kumar Sen (10 October 1913 – 21 September 1996) was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian. He also holds the record for winning a Lok Sabha seat the most times and also the record for b ...

by a huge margin. He was chosen to be the Union Minister of State for Finance by the then Prime Minister of India

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

. He worked with Finance Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

, the former Prime Minister of India. He was also elected for the Lok Sabha in the years 1991 and 1996. He briefly joined

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

after getting an invitation from its leader

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...

but eventually came back to the Congress.

Union Minister of Finance

He was the Union Minister of State for Finance in the Narasimha Rao Government from 1995 - 1996. He was also a member of The Tenth Finance Commission of India.

Philanthropy

Dr. Pal is well known for his charity work. He was one of the founding members of Cancer Foundation of India.

Senior Advocate

He practiced in the

and

. He is considered to be one of the fine lawyers of India in taxation matters. He was one of the highest paid lawyers and was one of the highest income-tax payers in India.

Member of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission

Dr. Pal has been recently appointed a member of the newly constituted Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC). The Commission is headed by retired Justice B. N. Srikrishna.Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pal, Debi Prasad 1927 births 2021 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Bengali people 20th-century Indian economists 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 Members of the Cabinet of India University of Calcutta alumni Judges of the Calcutta High Court Lok Sabha members from West Bengal Politicians from Kolkata