Kairshasp Nariman Choksy, PC, MP (7 February 1933 – 5 February 2015) (known as ''K. N. Choksy'') was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and a former member of the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Shri Lanka Parlimenthuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் ''Ila� ...

. He was Cabinet Minister of Finance under Prime Minister

Ranil Wickremasinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

.Nariman (K.N.) Choksy
Asian Affairs He had also served as Cabinet Minister of Constitutional & State Affairs from 1993 to 1994 under President

D. B. Wijetunga Sri Lankabhimanya Dingiri Banda Wijetunga ( si, ඩිංගිරි බණ්ඩා විජේතුංග, ta, டிங்கிரி பண்ட விஜேதுங்க; 15 February 1916 – 21 September 2008) was the fourth Presid ...

and was a member of parliament from 1989 to 2010 continuiosly.

Early life

Kairshasp N. Choksy belongs to the small, yet well established and respected, Parsi community of Sri Lanka, of which he was the Anjuman former chairman. He was born in Colombo on 7 February 1933. His paternal grandparents had migrated to Colombo from

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

, North of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, in the year 1885 to manage an established business house in the

Coconut oil frameless , right , alt = A cracked coconut and a bottle of coconut oil Coconut oil (or coconut butter) is an edible oil derived from the wick, meat, and milk of the coconut palm fruit. Coconut oil is a white solid fat; in warmer climates duri ...

industry at Colombo, belonging to a Bombay

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

family. His maternal grandparents were also settled in Colombo, in the export-import trade in food-commodities. They donated the building and land called "Navroze Baug", which is the religious centre of the Colombo Parsi residents. Kairshasp's father,

Nariman Kairshasp Choksy Nariman Kairshasp Choksy, was Ceylonese lawyer and judge. He was an acting Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. Choksy was born in Ceylon to a Bombay Parsi family that had migrated to Colombo from Surat, North of Bombay, in the year 1 ...

, was born in Sri Lanka around the start of the 20th century. He was the first Parsi Advocate in the country. Establishing a lucrative practice on the civil side, he was bestowed the honour by the then British Government of being appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1947, and later served as a Judge of the country's Supreme Court from 1951. With the enactment of Sri Lanka's Citizenship Laws after the Country's independence in 1948, Nariman Choksy found himself (and a few other well established settlers of Indian origin) as becoming "stateless". Upon this being brought to the notice of the incumbent Government, a law was enacted by Parliament in 1950 under which Nariman Choksy qualified for citizenship as a "Distinguished Citizen" of the Country.

Legal career

Choksy received his primary education at

S. Thomas' Preparatory School S. Thomas' Preparatory School (abbreviated as STPS) is a private, Anglican, multi-ethnic, primary and secondary day school for boys aged 5 to 16 years, located in Kollupitiya in the Colombo District of the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The scho ...

, Kollupitiya, being one of the first students to be admitted to the school at its founding in 1938. He then continued his secondary education at

S. Thomas' College , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

Mount Lavinia. From boyhood, he imbued the legal atmosphere in his father's Law Chambers and being called to the Sri Lankan Bar as an Advocate in 1958 rapidly established himself in a leading practice in the civil courts of the metropolis of Colombo. Choksy was appointed as

President's Counsel President's Counsel (postnominal PC) is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the President of Sri Lanka to be one of the "President's Counsel learned in the law". The term is also recognized as an honorific which replaced the practice of appoint ...

in 1981. He appeared as lead-Counsel on one side or the other in many a civil Cause-celebre. During the period 1989 to 1992, he successfully defended the country's President

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( si, රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa'', ta, ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was t ...

, as his Senior-Counsel, in a Petition filed seeking to annul the President's election. The case took 525 days of hearing before five Judges of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, with 911 witnesses testifying.

Political career

He entered the Sri Lanka Parliament in February 1989 as a nominated Member on the

National List The National List ( he, רשימה ממלכתית, ''Reshima Mamlakhtit''), sometimes translated as the State List, was a political party in Israel. Despite being founded by David Ben-Gurion, one of the fathers of the Israeli left, the party is ...

. The Sri Lankan Constitution makes provision for a limited number of such appointments, so that the Professional and Academic communities could find representation in the Legislature without having to contest at elections. He held office in Parliament as Minister for Constitutional Affairs and State Affairs from 1993 to 1994, and thereafter as the Country's

Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka The Minister of Finance ( si, මුදල්, ආර්ථික ස්ථායිකරණ සහ ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති අමාත්‍ය; ta, நிதி, பொருளாதார நிலைப்பட ...

from 2001 to 2004. Choksy was a Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

from 1989 to 2010 continuiosly.

Family

Choksy is married to Freny (née Cooper) from

. They have three sons. The eldest, Jamsheed, is Professor of Central Eurasian Studies and History and Director of Middle Eastern Studies. He is a scholar in

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...

and has published several books on religion. The second son, Khursheed, is executive director at the

United States Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging ...

in Washington. The third son, Vishtasp, has taken to the family tradition of the Law and practices as a Lawyer in Colombo, the third generation of Choksys to excel in his chosen profession.

References

External links