Tehmtan R. Andhyarujina (17 November 1933 – 28 March 2017) was an Indian lawyer and jurist. He was a designated

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 ...

and practised at 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 ...

. He was 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) ...

from 1996 to 1998. Prior to that he was 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 ...

from 1993 to 1995. He specialized in the field of

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...

and

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

. He is widely remembered for his expertise in a branch of constitutional law relating to parliamentary privileges.

Education

Born to a Parsi family, Andhyarujina was a student of the

Government Law College, Mumbai The Government Law College, Mumbai, (GLC Mumbai), founded in 1855, is the one of the oldest law schools in Asia. The college, affiliated to the University of Mumbai, is run by the Government of Maharashtra. Bal Gangadhar Tilak ,Pratibha Pa ...

, between 1955 and 1957. He was awarded the Sir Charles Sergeant Scholarship and the Vishnu Dhurander Gold medal in law by the

Bombay University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

. He was selected for the Indian Foreign Service in 1958 but opted to practise

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Career

Andhyarujina was a counsel in the chamber of H M Seervai, the then Advocate-General of erstwhile

Bombay state Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...

from 1958 to 1974 and appeared for the State of Maharashtra in the

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 the

alongside him. Before joining the Bar, Andhyarujina was selected for the Indian Foreign Service in 1958. He secured 3rd rank in the ICSE (now UPSC) examination. Some of the important cases in which he has appeared in the Supreme Court are:

Kesavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru & Ors. v. State of Kerala & Anr. (Writ Petition (Civil) 135 of 1970), also known as the Kesavananda Bharati judgement, was a List of landmark court decisions in India, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of ...

case, The Parliamentary Privileges Case (In Re: Keshav Singh), Sexual Harassment of Women case (Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan), the Narmada, Cauvery and Krishna River Water Disputes Cases, the Legislative Assemblies Dissolution case (

S. R. Bommai v. Union of India ''S. R. Bommai v. Union of India'' ( 9942 SCR 644 : AIR 1994 SC 1918 : (1994)3 SCC1) is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of India, where the Court discussed at length provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India and related i ...

), Hindustan Lever and Tomco Merger case, JMM Bribery case (P.V. Narasimha Rao v. State), Raja Ram Pal vs. Hon'ble Speaker (Cash for Query:expulsion of MPs by Parliament), I.R. Coelho vs. State of Tamil Nadu (Constitutional validity of the IXth Schedule to the Constitution), Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India, Glanrock Estate v. State of Tamil Nadu, Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India (the recent case that permitted passive

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

in India), and Novartis v. Union of India & Others (concerning

evergreening Evergreening is any of various legal, business, and technological strategies by which producers (often pharmaceutical companies) extend the lifetime of their patents that are about to expire in order to retain revenues from them. Often the practice ...

of patents). He was the Chairman of the Committee on Banking Laws (Andhyarujina Committee) appointed by the Government of India in 1998 which led to the passing of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets & Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act). He was a member of the Task Force on the Committee on Centre–State Relations Review appointed by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in 2007. He was a part-time Professor in

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

in the

University of Bombay The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

, a visiting Lecturer at Queen's

University of Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

in 1990 and an Honorary Professor at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Symbiosis Law School, Pune and other leading law colleges in India.

Publications

He is the author of ''The Kesavananda Bharati Case: The untold story of struggle for supremacy by Supreme Court and Parliament'' (2011), a masterpiece in understanding the landmark Constitutional Case of India and the circumstances surrounding the proceedings of the Court. He has also authored ''Judicial Activism and Constitutional Democracy in India'' (1992) and ''Judges and Judicial Accountability'' (2002). He wrote frequently on constitutional and public law in law journals and newspapers.

References

External links

Columns by T R Andhyarujina in Indian Express
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andhyarujina, T R 1933 births 2017 deaths Advocates General for Indian states Indian Senior Counsel Scholars from Mumbai Senior Advocates in India Supreme Court of India lawyers 20th-century Indian lawyers Parsi people from Mumbai