It's pretty hard! I started as a junior to one of my very good friend's father who was a leading lawyer in Chandigarh. The day after our law vacations, we got enrolled and I started working with him. He was a very busy lawyer but he treated me like part of the family. We used to prepare two to three appeals and revision a days, research and learnt a great deal. There was a lot of opportunity for drafting, thinking and the entire process as to how the cases are prepared and drafted, I learnt over there.
However, in six months time, I decided I had learnt whatever I needed to learn and I needed to jump in the ocean. My friend said that I was being stupid. He said, "this is a cruel world, you don't know that! You will get dejected, you will give up practice and you are ruining my career by taking such a rash step!" But I thought that if I don't have it in me to become a lawyer, I need to fail now rather than after ten years or fifteen years. So I insisted on starting on my own and I became independent.
Around that time, there was a senior of mine who was also an author of several books. I started writing a book inspired by him because as an independent lawyer, I did not have much work. I was also empaneled by the Advocate General, Punjab, where we used to get Rs 32 (Thirty two indian rupees) for the appearance on behalf of the Advocate General.
I remember that when I was the junior, the senior used to invite us in the chamber on Friday evening, and he used to hand over to me an envelope which had Rs 50 in it and similarly he used to hand over an envelope to his son, which also perhaps had the same amount. But we were happy because we were learning. I was staying with my parents so I did not have to worry about monetary issues. Three years later, I got married.
My book was published by Eastern Law House, Calcutta and that gave me something like Rs 25-26,000 and I was on cloud nine getting that kind of money. In the meanwhile, I got married and an year later, we had our daughter. But we were staying with our parents and we were not worried about our daily expenses. I started publishing a law journal in addition to my practice but I used to make still sometimes only Rs 2000, sometimes Rs 3000, sometimes Rs 5000 and because I started publishing a journal, I had to spend Rs 5000 on printing, paper etc.
I used to borrow judgment files from the bar library because I could not afford to buy them, so I used to be handed over a file say of the civil writs, on another day criminal appeals then civil revision, criminal revisions. I was handed over the file at 4 o'clock in the evening and I had to return it by 9.45 am next morning. I used to go through those judgments, I used to make head notes and then my stenographer used to come at 6 in the morning. I would dictate the head notes and would return the file before 10 am. Next day would again be the same routine. I was very happy doing all of that.
My wife cooperated to the extent. She says, "I did nothing. I am living in the house, I have so many clothes." We used to occasionally go out to a movie hall, but although we din't have too much money, I thought I was learning a great deal.
In the meantime, I was appointed a part time lecturer and as a part time lecturer I gained a lot of confidence because our lectures would be for one hour but you had to prepare, you had to speak, so there was a great deal of satisfaction in that. We used to get a princely sum of Rs 400 as our salary as part time lecturer.
Two years later, I was invited by the Chief Justice of the High Court and appointed a reporter for the Indian Law Reporter, Punjab and Haryana Series. In that, we got a very prestigious office in the High Court next to the bar room. We used to get Rs 250 for our labour for preparing the headnotes and supervising publications and law journal.
I stopped publishing my law journal once I joined the official reporter. I should say that because I was editing my law journal, I had two associate editors. One was Mr. K S Garewal, who later on became a judge of the High Court and the second was Sushma Swaraj, now the Honourable Minister of External Affairs.
Practically, I had to do all the running about! I was the editor, producer, the salesman, I was going to the district bar associations, addressing them that this Chandigarh short notes was the means to replace ten law journals and that one is enough to give you the entire information. Because I was the editor and everything, I had judgments on my finger tips, I knew what had been decided, I knew exactly what was the ratio in each case.
One day, I remember a partner of one of the law firms came to Chandigarh and he told me that there was a Prevention of Food Adulteration case against the Chairman of a tea company and whether I would be able to handle that case. So, in our conversations, I rattled of all the judgments which were relevant to the point for getting the complaint quashed. Pursuant to that, he requested me to draft the petition and give it to him. So I drafted it in one day and gave it to him. He went back to Delhi and then he went to Calcutta. The senior lawyer of the tea company, upon seeing the petition, said that I want to meet the lawyer who has drafted it. So I was called to Calcutta to meet with the senior lawyer. He made us wait for about two and a half hours and from the other room we could see that he was writing the whole petition with his own hand. Eventually, he called us in and said that this ist an excellent draft but I have suggested a few changes and I have made those changes in pencil. Please have a look at them and so I was quite surprised. He said, " Young man, in criminal law you need to know not only what to say but also what not to say. " I still consider him to be my guru because he gave me such clarity with regard to criminal procedure that I till today consider myself to be a master of quashing criminal cases, of drafting and arguing.
When I went to Kolkata for arguing the petition, I was paid 1100 rupees a day, including for the travelling time and that was a hell of a lot of money. It was a big jump from whatever I used to earn and it gave me a great morale boost. We won the quashing peṭition in Calcutta. A few years later, the same tea company engaged me for their cases in Rajasthan and Shimla, so I made a lot of money.
Then, my next break happened when one of my friend's class fellow asked for time to meet me because his friend who was the Deputy Inspector General in Assam was in serious trouble and local lawyers were refusing to represent him. So I said sure and when they came, I, for the first time met KPS Gill, one of India's most celebrated police officers. KPS Gill showed me the transfer petition that they had filed in the Supreme Court. I read the Transfer Petition and despite the fact that I did not have too many years of practice, I said to Mr. Gill, "You have an excellent case but a very badly drafted petition." Mr. Gill was quite surprised that a young lawyer could tell him that his petition was poorly drafted! I rattled off all the cases on sanction under 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 from Constitution Benches and various other cases that I had come across as an editor. He was surprised that I could say all that without consulting a book. Then he says, "You know who has drafted this petition, it is one of the retired high court judges who had drafted the petition. I said, whoever may have drafted, but he doesn't know the law. But I think Mr. Gill thought I was being very cocky. Nevertheless he went back and he said he will get back to me.
About six months later, Mr. Gill's father came to meet me and he says that KPS has been trying to reach me but he could not he through the phone to me. Their petition had been dismissed by the High Court and he desperately wanted me to come to a Guwahati within four days.
So I said, "Very well Sir, I will think about that, whether I can make this trip." Meanwhile Mr. Gill, senior, said, " Look, we will pay whatever you want but you have to come". He asked me my fees. I said I have been paid Rs 1100 per day by some tea company. He said we will pay you double the amount but you must come. So I went and we got bail for them inspite of the fact that it had been dismissed by the Supreme Court. Then about 50 more police officers engaged me for the same fee for their cases in Assam because Assam was reeling under the agitation by the AASU (All Assam Student's Union). So I kept going, almost every week I would go to Assam, it was a long flight. First. I had to come from Chanḍigaṛh to Delhi by train and then I had to go from Delhi to Lucknow to Badograh to Guwahaṭi. It used to take a whole day, but Rs 2200 was a lot of money. I must say I made I think about 40 Lakhs in five years from there.
In the course of those cases in Assam, I came across the best legal brains, got an opportunity to assit them, saw their way of working and why they were so sought after. So, I think this case turned my fortune.
I wrote one more book which was also published by Eastern Law House, Calcutta. I got more money that time, with which I could even buy a car.
In 1987, I was designated as Senior Advocate. I was exactly 40 years. I think there are just a handful of people who are designated seniors at that age.
During the Emergency, I was General Secretary of PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties) and they had come in contact with Mr. Subramaniam Swamy. He liked me a great deal and sometimes he would stay with us.
I was in Delhi staying in Meridian in connection with KPS Gill's cases when I came to know in the evening when one of Mr. Gill's colleagues walked in with a teleprinter news that Subramaniam Swamy had been designated the law minister.
Since I knew Swamy, I called up his house and Roxna, his wife, said that she hadn't seen him since morning, after the swearing in and he would come perhaps pretty late. So I said I wanted to meet him. She said the best time to meet him is perhaps 8 o clock in the morning. She asked, "Are you nearby?" I said I am nearby. So I went to his house. I was waiting in the drawing room and when Swamy came down, he hugged me and he said , "Tulsi, you are now Additional Solicitor General." Just like that! I don't know how much pressure he had from other people but he stuck to his guns and appointed me Additional Solicitor General. I was now on the national stage where if I could perform, I could become a star. The rest is recent history.
good journey sir.
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