Archive

"Most books, like their authors, are bound to die. There are only some where death has no hold over them,” began Chief Justice (CJ) of the Bombay High Court (BHC) Mohit Shah who claimed it a "unique privilege” to be called upon to launch the reprint of Pherozeshah Bejonji Vachha’s Famous Judges, Lawyers and Cases of Bombay after a lapse of 50 years. 

The event on April 15, 2011 in  the Central Court Room of the BHC saw a formidable array of Bombay’s Bar and Bench, both past and present. Led by the guest of honor former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Sam Bharucha, former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee, who has contributed the Introduction to the new edition, and former  Supreme Court judge Madhukar Kania sitting by Shah’s side at the main table, many of the serving judges occupied the front rows of the audience. "Justice Bharucha was admitted to the Bombay Bench when I was admitted to the Bar and Soli Sorabjee was admitted to the Bar when I was born!” a smiling Shah acknowledged their seniority. 

The book had initially been published in 1962 to celebrate the centenary of the BHC and traced the growth of judicial institutions in Bombay from the earliest times up to Independence. The re-release of the book has been timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary celebrations of the BHC beginning August 14 this year. 

"Only rarely has an unofficial history received such acceptance,” noted Shah commending the independence of the writer who kept two principles in mind: to write without fear and to paint the subjects as they are. "Despite old age and infirmities, Vachha undertook voluminous research,” said Shah, appreciating the author’s "sharp wit and humor” as much as his emphasis on the principles of justice. Replete with quotations, Vachha did yeoman service to readers and historians alike by his "delightful account of Bench and Bar,” and produced "one of the finest histories of any high court,” Shah was fulsome in his praise of the book as much as of the legal talent at the BHC, an institution  which has so zealously safeguarded human rights since its earliest days.

"Delighted to be in this court room where hangs the portrait of Justice Sir John Peter Grant which was commissioned by the grateful citizens of Bombay,” Bharucha alluded to the history that has been made within its walls. "Given what’s in the news these days,” Bharucha cautioned that in the process of doing justice one must be conscious that the Constitution has given different tasks to different officials.” He underscored the need to tell the story of this Court and of the Supreme Court during the 50 years of independent India, of judges and counsels like the first Indian CJI Sir Harilal  Kania, the first solicitor-general of India C. K. Daphtary, Nani Palkhivala and many more.

"Vachha’s history is not a bare bones history. He had an eye for the interest of the general reader. He has brought before us great judges of the BHC in pre-Independence India,” said Sorabjee. He referred to Sir Lawrence Jenkins who became CJ in 1899 and is considered the father of the Bombay Bar because "it was during his time that Indian lawyers acquired a firmer footing on the Original Side. Before him the British barristers had monopolized the Original Side. Sir Stanley Batchelor’s judgments were crisp, concise, written in his own hand with barely a scratch. He retired at 50 to pursue his literary ambitions. Kashinath Te­lang was appointed a judge at the age of 38 and died at the age of 42 but had the rare distinction of having edited one volume of the Sacred Books of the East.” Thus history runs contrary to our "current notions that a judge cannot be appointed before the age of 45!” Sorabjee spoke of Sir Dinshaw Mulla as "jurist par excellence” whose versatility and depth of knowledge encompassed Hindu, Mohammedan and Civil Law. 

Then there were the great lawyers: John Duncan Invararity known for his phenomenal memory as much as his shikari expertise; the aristocratic Sir Pherozeshah Mehta who worked from the afternoon to past midnight; Mohammed Ali Jinnah who remained aloof from the members of the Bar…

Whenever the independent judiciary finds itself in conflict with the executive, it needs to remember that Grant locked up the High Court for five months rather than submit to the will of the executive, noted Sorabjee. "The BHC building is grander than most but the court has achieved greatness, not acquired it overnight, by its consistency in fair and impartial delivery of justice. Vachha’s book is a refreshing reminder for the older lawyers and an inspiration for the younger ones. By reprinting it we pay homage to P. B. Vachha who, by his plain living and high thinking strived for high principles,” said Sorabjee and wondered, "Will some potential Vachha produce a history of the great judges and lawyers of independent India? But when?” 

PBV, as affectionately known by his friends and colleagues at the Bar, and his wife Shireen (née Kabraji) had an only son, Rusi. A lawyer by training who retired as managing director and chairman of the corporate house McKinnon and McKenzie in 1984, the octogenarian Rusi spoke of the family’s strained financial antecedents in Navsari where his grandfather was a teacher in the Parsi orphanage. The family moved to Bombay when Pherozeshah joined the Elphinstone College in 1898, completing his MA with honors in English and Persian in 1904. After a stint as a lecturer in Ahmedabad he joined Elphinstone College as professor in these departments, then moved on to the Bar after passing his advocate’s exam in 1913. He spoke about his father’s penchant for writing the "Third Leader” in The Times of India, a normally humorous piece and of giving nicknames (he liked to refer to the first CJ of BHC in 1862, Sir Mathew Sausse as "savory sauce”) for which he sometimes got into trouble as when he was hauled up for contempt of court by the Supreme Court in 1952 (though that was for no laughing matter). "I can feel my father breathing down my neck. ‘What is all this tamasha?’” he asks referring to the evening’s function. Much of what Rusi and the others spoke was lost due to the courtroom’s poor acoustics.

The publisher of the reprint, Dr Manish Arora of the Delhi based Universal Law Publishing Company spoke of  books as bridges not only between the author and his readers but also between the past, present and future generations. He credited Sorabjee and Rusi Vachha with the idea of reprinting the book for a new generation of readers in 2002 and thanked Sorabjee for contributing the Introduction which he wrote during court vacations.

In his vote of thanks senior counsel Rohit Kapadia noted that the book recorded how the BHC and especially its Central Court Room had "witnessed defining moments in the march of India’s history.” Despite the attendant controversy when it was first published, it has been a vital repository of knowledge. It flew off the bookshelves. "No one loaned the book; if it was loaned, you never got it back. People used to make photocopies!”

Justice Bharucha has "never forgotten his roots” and Soli Sorabjee is "as irrepressible as he is brilliant,” Kapadia said, also appreciating Arora’s "dedication and passion” for the project, though the fruition of the idea and the success of the event also depended on "many who work behind the scene, including the prothonotary and senior master and personal assistant to the CJ. Without their support this event would not have succeeded.”