Goolamhussein Essaji Vahanvati was an Indian

senior counsel 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 jurisdicti ...

who served as the 11th

Attorney General for India The Attorney General for India is the Indian government's chief legal advisor, and is its chief advocate in the courts. They are appointed by the President of India at the instance of the Union Cabinet under Article 76(1) of the Constitution an ...

. His first term in office began in June 2009 and was for three years.

Early life

Goolam was born to Essaji Vahanvati, a lawyer, in a

Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. Their largest numbers reside in India, Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East, with a growing presence across Europe, North America, South ...

family.

Career

He started his practice at

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...

and was a junior to

Fali S Nariman Fali Sam Nariman (born 10 January 1929) is an Indian jurist. He is the senior advocate to the Supreme Court of India since 1971 and was the President of the Bar Association of India from 1991 to 2010. Nariman is an internationally recognised j ...

and later under

Soli Sorabjee Soli Jehangir Sorabjee, AM (9 March 193030 April 2021) was an Indian jurist who served as Attorney-General for India from 1989 to 1990, and again from 1998 to 2004. In 2002, he received the Padma Vibhushan for his defence of the freedom of exp ...

, Ashok Desai and Ashok Sen. In March 1990, he was designated as a senior advocate. In December 1999, he was appointed as the Advocate General of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

which he served till June 2004 till he was elevated as the Solicitor General of India, where he handled various important cases, including the Enron cases and the stock market scam. He appeared in the nine-judge bench hearing on the Ninth Schedule of the

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Kuldip Nayar Kuldip Nayar (14 August 1923 – 23 August 2018) was an Indian journalist, syndicated columnist, human rights activist, author and former High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom noted for his long career as a left-wing political comme ...

's challenge to the amendment to the Representation of the People's Act with regard to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the tainted Ministers case, in all matters pertaining to the sealing and the challenge to the Delhi Laws Special Provisions Act, 2007 and challenges to the Master Plan 2021. He represented Maharashtra state in the public interest litigation petition filed in the fake stamp paper scam. He successfully defended the challenge to the reservation for OBCs in higher education. He appeared as ''

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'' in the MP Local Area Development Scheme and for Union of India/CBI in the matter relating to power of court to ''suo motu'' transfer investigation to the CBI without prior consent of the State government concerned. The

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appointed him to hold an inquiry into the allegations of racism in Zimbabwe along with High Court Judge

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in September 2004. He was appointed Single Member Commission to inquire into allegations of racial abuse on South African cricketers during the South African tour of Australia in December 2005. In 2012 his term as Attorney General of India was extended by two years. In April 2013, Vahanvati's role in government came under scrutiny after allegations of impropriety and coercion emerged from his junior law officer, Harin P. Raval, who resigned from the post of Additional Solicitor General as a result. In January 2014,

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, along with others, his name was forwarded in the category of "eminent jurist" to the

Lokpal A Lokpal ( sa, लोकपाल ''lokapāla'', "defender of people" or "People's Friend") is an anti-corruption authority or body of ombudsman who represents the public interest in the Republic of India. The current Chairperson of Lokpal is Pra ...

selection panel.

Death

He died on 2 September 2014 in Mumbai due to cardiac arrest. On 11 September 2014, a full court reference, a commemorative event involving all judges of the court and lawyers, including the senior officer of the bar was held in the

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (IAST: ) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the president of India to appoint, in consultation w ...

's court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahanvati, Goolamhussein Essaji 1949 births 2014 deaths Attorneys General of India Advocates General for Indian states Indian Muslims 20th-century Indian lawyers Dawoodi Bohras