Rohinton Fali Nariman (born 13 August 1956) is a former
Judge of the
Supreme Court of India. Before being elevated as a judge, he practised as a
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 jurisdictio ...
at the Supreme Court. He was appointed the
Solicitor General of India
The Solicitor General of India (SGI) is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. They are the second-highest law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by Additional Solicitor Generals of India (Addl. SGIs ...
on 23 July 2011.
[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2287939.ece , Rohinton Nariman appointed Solicitor-General] He also served as a member of the
Bar Council of India
The Bar Council of India is a statutory body established under the section 4 of Advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India. Its members are elected from amongst the lawyers in India and as such represents ...
. He was designated as a
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 jurisdictio ...
by
Justice Venkatachaliah (the then
Chief Justice of India) in 1993 at the early age of 37.
Early life and education
Nariman is the son of
Fali Sam Nariman,
a distinguished Indian
jurist. He received his early education in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, at the
Cathedral and John Connon School
The Cathedral & John Connon School is a co-educational private school founded in 1860 and located in Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra.[Shri Ram College of Commerce
Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Founded in 1926 by industrialist Lala Shri Ram, it is widely regarded as the most prestigious college for commerce and economics in India. SRCC was ranke ...](_blank)
. He completed his
LL.B
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
fro
Campus Law Centreof the
Faculty of Law, University of Delhi
The Faculty of Law, University of Delhi is the law department of the University of Delhi. It has the unique distinction of producing the largest number of sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India.
It is situated in the north campus of the ...
, where he ranked 2nd in the batch. He then went to
Harvard Law School for his LL.M. degree in 1980–81 where he was taught by stalwarts like
Professor Laurence Tribe and
Professor Unger.
Legal career
Nariman joined the Bar as an advocate in 1979.
[Legal Era – Rohinton Nariman To Be New Solicitor General](_blank)
Last Retrieved on 4 February 2013. Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...
has placed him among top ten lawyers of his time.
[India's top 10 lawyers – Times of India](_blank)
Last retrieved on 4 February 2013 After his year at Harvard, he practised Maritime Law in New York at Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens for a year.
He has been designated as 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 jurisdic ...
at the
Supreme Court of India from 15 December 1993 at the young age of 37.
While appointing him
Chief Justice Venkatachalaiah amended the rules as Nariman was of 37 years and the minimum age for being made a senior in the Supreme Court was 45.
He has been practising law for the last 30 years and has more than 500 reported Supreme Court judgments to his credit. He is an expert in Comparative Constitutional Law and Civil Law. He has argued numerous cases, including the constitutional bench judgments of
P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra and
State of Punjab v. Devans Modern Breweries Ltd.
One of Mr. Nariman's latest cases,
Enercon (India) Ltd. v. Enercon GMBH, Civil Appeal No. 2086 of 2014, has clarified the arbitration law on the seat/venue dichotomy.
Khoday Distilleries Ltd. v. Scotch Whisky Assn., (2008) 10 SCC 723 is a landmark case in trademark law wherein the arguments of Mr. Nariman that the class of buyer may be relevant to the determination of a passing off action and it is not always the test of the prudent man which would apply was accepted.
He has argued the cases for theatre artist
Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...
and the controversy-marred play
Sakharam Binder
''Sakharam Binder'' (Sakharam, the Binder) is a play by Indian playwright Vijay Tendulkar written in Marathi and first performed in 1972. It was banned in India in 1974. It was produced and directed by Kamlakar Sarang.
Synopsis
Sakharam Binder, t ...
. He claims that these two cases have been the turning points of his life.
He has handled the high-profile case of gas sharing between the
Reliance Industries Limited
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is o ...
(led by
Mukesh Ambani) and
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group or popularly known as Reliance ADA Group or simply Reliance Group is an Indian conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company, which was formed after Dhirubhai Ambani's business was divided up ...
(which is led by
Anil Ambani).
He has set up the Supreme Court Lawyers Welfare Trust which works for the welfare of lawyers and encourages young talent.
Solicitor General
Nariman was of 55 years of age when he was appointed the
Solicitor General of India
The Solicitor General of India (SGI) is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. They are the second-highest law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by Additional Solicitor Generals of India (Addl. SGIs ...
.
[http://parsikhabar.net/individuals/rohinton-nariman-to-be-appointed-solicitor-general-of-india/3254/ , Rohinton Nariman To Be Appointed Solicitor General of India]
Resignation
After being at the post of
Solicitor General of India
The Solicitor General of India (SGI) is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. They are the second-highest law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by Additional Solicitor Generals of India (Addl. SGIs ...
for eighteen months, Nariman resigned on 4 February 2013. The reason for this is not known though it was said that he shared a poor rapport with the Law Minister
Ashwani Kumar
Supreme Court Judge
Nariman was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on 7 July 2014. He is the fifth Supreme Court judge to be elevated directly from the Bar. He retired on attaining the age of 65 years on 12 August 2021.
Book
In November 2016, Nariman's book on the
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
religion, ''The Inner Fire'', was released. The book is an analysis of the
Gathas.
Notable judgements
Freedom of Speech
Nariman and
Jasti Chelameswar
Jasti Chelameswar (born 23 June 1953) is the former Judge of Supreme Court of India. He retired on 22 June 2018 as the second most senior Supreme court judge. Earlier, he was the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and Gauhati High Court. He ...
formed the two judge
bench of the Supreme Court of India which struck down a controversial law which gave Indian police the power to arrest anyone accused of posting emails or other electronic messages which "causes annoyance or inconvenience". The judges held Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which made such offenses punishable up to three years imprisonment, to be unconstitutional. The judgement was authored by Nariman.
According to Nariman and Chelameswar, several terms in the law they were striking down were "open-ended, undefined and vague" which made them nebulous in nature. According to the judges: "What may be offensive to one may not be offensive to another. What may cause annoyance or inconvenience to one may not cause annoyance or inconvenience to another."
In their judgement, the judges clarified that a distinction needs to be made between discussion, advocacy, and incitement. Any discussion, or advocacy of even an unpopular cause cannot be restricted, and it is only when such discussion or advocacy reaches the level of incitement whereby it causes public disorder or affects the security of the state can it be curbed.
The judgement has been welcomed for defending the Indian Constitution's ideals of tolerance and the constitutional provisions of free speech.
It has been pointed out that the controversial law struck down by Nariman and Chelameswar had gained notoriety after many people in India started getting arrested for seemingly innocuous reasons on the ground that they had violated the now scrapped law.
Triple Talaq
In a landmark judgement, a five-judge Bench struck down instantaneous
triple talaq
Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some initiated by the husband and some initiated by the wife. The main traditional legal categories are ''talaq'' ( repudiation), ''khulʿ'' (mutual divorce or ransom divorce) Historically, the rules ...
by 3–2 majority and termed it void, illegal and unconstitutional. While Justice
Kurian Joseph
Kurian Joseph (born 30 November 1953) is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Previously, he has served as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court and Judge of Kerala High Court.
Early life
Kurian Joseph was born on 30 Novem ...
, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice
Uday Umesh Lalit
Uday Umesh Lalit (born 9 November 1957) is an Indian lawyer & former Supreme Court Judge, who served as the 49th Chief Justice of India. Previously, he has served as a judge of Supreme Court of India. Prior to his elevation as a judge, he practis ...
struck down the practice; Chief Justice
JS Khehar and Justice
Abdul Nazeer asked Parliament to make a law in this regard. Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman judgement was against the practice of Triple Talaq where he stated "Triple Talaq is a disapproved form of divorce. Even the Hanafi law says triple talaq is sinful. 1937 Act recognizes triple talaq and therefore does not violate Article 13. It is not possible for the court to fold his hands when petitioners come to court.
Practice of triple talaq is bad and can be tested as legislation.
"
Sabarimala
Justice Nariman, along with Justice
Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, delivered a dissent in
Kantaru Rajeevaru v. Indian Young Lawyers Association. He held that the decision of five judges in the Sabarimala case which held that women of the ages of ten and fifty shall not be denied entry to the Sabarimala temple is not a fit case for the exercise of review jurisdiction as the judgment does not suffer from an error apparent on the face of record. The dissent observed that the executive is under a constitutional obligation to implement the decisions of the Supreme Court even if they were not parties before them.
Justice Nariman observed:
Bona fide criticism of a judgment, albeit of the highest court of the land, is certainly permissible, but thwarting, or encouraging persons to thwart, the directions or orders of the highest court cannot be countenanced in our Constitutional scheme of things.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nariman, Rohinton
Solicitors General of India
Living people
Parsi people from Mumbai
20th-century Indian judges
1956 births
Indian legal scholars
Indian Senior Counsel
Harvard Law School alumni
Justices of the Supreme Court of India
21st-century Indian judges
Scholars from Mumbai
Shri Ram College of Commerce alumni
Faculty of Law, University of Delhi alumni
Supreme Court of India lawyers