Arjun Vajpai: The Road No One Travelled

Arjun Vajpai, a 24 year old recently summited his sixth 8000+ feet mountain, Kanchenjunga in May 2018. A graduate from the prestigious Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), he is the youngest Indian to have conquered Mt. Everest at the age of 16 and went further on to conquer the dreaded Mt. Makalu after four attempts. He was trekking and at the base camp of Mt. Makaluwhen his team got caught in the dreadful avalanche post the Nepal Earthquake of 2015. In an interview with Manushi Desai, a fellow alumni of NIM, he shares his experience of summits and challenges.

How was your first experience as a mountaineer?

My first experience as a climber would be at NIM in 2008-2009 and it was a great feeling just to be with people I could relate to. I think I need more monkeys like me to be together who like to climb. Once I found more people like me, I knew there was no going back. So I think my first experience as mountaineering at NIM was absolutely incredible with a sheer feeling of a place that I could belong to.

Can anyone start mountaineering?

I think to start climbing in India they have a minimum age of 17 or 16 years but I feel climbing can be started at any age, much more younger- you can be as young as you want, all you need is another person who could guide you through the mountains, so you should be amongst the right company. The courses in India generally start at the age of 16 or 17, so I think anybody and absolutely anybody can climb mountains. There are no limits.

What do you suggest for the young professionals out there who want to do something different?

I think if the corporates are interested in the outdoors, there are several programs being run. I am associated with a program called Find your Everest which has partnered with conglomerates such as Aditya Birla Group, Google India, Procter & Gamble and international business schools as well. We keep running the whole perspective of learning via the outdoors through various adventure activities. It is based on the concept of looking towards the outdoors to gain learning. It is a very sought after method which brings in a lot of leadership qualities in employees and a lot more teamwork and synergy. Because when you are in the outdoors, it is humans against the nature and you really come together to work on conquering the nature. I think there is a great mindset to that and I encourage corporate professionals to engage in the outdoors.

What would be a good beginning for a student in high school or college to start mountaineering?

I think that any student who wants to start mountaineering should start with an Adventure Course at a good mountaineering institute in India. It is generally a one-two week long course which does not cost you a lot of money (it is approximately5000-6000 rupees). There are various courses even if you just look it up online which are run by government institutes. There are various activities such as mountaineering, rock climbing etc.in the outdoors which can be learnt at a nominal cost.  These activities can be started by students who can start venturing into the outdoors. The first step would definitely be to get your basic mountaineering courses done. 

What is your daily routine? 

You need go stamina for climbing mountains and a healthy pair of lungs. So start running, I run 10 kms everyday and also do cross fit training.

What would you consider your most memorable moment in all your expeditions and the mountaineering experience?

The best moments across all expeditions are mostly a combination of highs and lows. Both highs and lows have a lasting impact on your memory. The good times like the summits, the good memories, the happy memories are very nice. But there are even scary moments like when the weather is bad, our you are stuck in a storm and you come out of it- I think even these moments last you for a lifetime. Those are special moments bringing humans together irrespective of religion, caste, creed, language, diversity, nationality. Both highs and lows are memorable moments of an expedition.

What was that particular moment when you felt this is why you joined mountaineering?

When we were climbing Kanchenjunga, we reached the last part and the weather cleared up and in the part distance in the earth’s horizon I could see the summits of the Everest, Lhotse and the Mansatu, the other 8000 metre peaks which thankfully and very gratefully with lot of people’s help with God’s grace I had conquered. Just looking at these mountain peaks, the first three mountain peaks that I had conquered, and just looking at these mountains all the way from Kanchenjunga, I remembered the journey along which I have come along, the last 8 years from the time I started climbing mountains, the whole journey just flashed in front of my eyes. I felt very grateful. Since the time I was 16, I felt that if I got to do just another expedition - thatwould be fantastic. And now I have successfully conquered sixof the tallest peaks. I have done 16 expeditions so far, not all of those have been successful but the journey has been incredible. 

What kind of struggles do you generally face while mountaineering?

There are lots of struggles that I generally face but one has to understand that when you are an outdoor person, you cannot consider these as struggles. We were attempting the Makalu for continuously four years, after failing for three years in a row on Makalu. Just going back every year – that was a four year long struggle. There are long struggles and I enjoy them. These are just hard times physically but are of great mental peace for us. Although these situations are physically at risk, they put me in a space in my head where I am extremely comfortable and very relaxed. For me, even these hard times are actually great physically challenging moments where you feel like giving up, you feel like you cannot take the next step, feel like it is very difficult but you take one step at a time and you move forward. So all of these hard moments are actually a great learning experience and I particularly enjoy them.

What are the plans for the next expedition?

I am currently resting. I will start training again very soon. I intent to attempt Shishapangma (8027 ft.) next.  But that depends on a lot of factors like where is the wind going, whether we have the right kind of people who want to be in the expedition team.

Do follow me on Twitter and Instagram. My handle is @manushidesai !

Reports of the Committee on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains

Reports of the Committee on Decent Work in Global Supply Chains

The International Labour Organization held its annual tripartite meeting between Workers, Employers and Government representatives on the topic of Decent Work in Global Supply Chains between 29th May and 10th June, 2016 in Geneva. Global supply chains encompass the manufacturing, production, supply and disstribution of a single product, the chain of which extends to several companies. At the 105thInternational Labor Conference (ILC) held, there were arguments from NGOs and unions on one side and from industry and government on the other which reflect the polarized nature of the debate about global supply chains. On the one side Workers called for new regulations governing these global supply chains. The Employers firm position was that no new standard-setting on supply chains was required. The Governments deferred in their opinion and supported social change. 

The Indian government initially was represented by the Director General of Labour Welfare. He supported the stand of the Workers as a part of the Drafting Committee and put forth his support completely. However, this was later changed when he was replaced with Additional Secretary to the Labour Minister who removed support on certain points including mediation and dispute resolution by ILO.

Initially, in the Workers group meeting, the challenges of regulating global supply chains which are inherently linked to the broader challenges of regulating business in a globalized world were discussed.  These included plight of workers in the fishing industry, transport industry, garment industry and the absence of any impact of CSR in some countries. The solution suggested was to create a tripartite expert committee on international regulation to share the issue of global supply chain. 

SEWA highlighted how the Government of India has contracted with international companies operating in vast global supply chains to provide infrastructure facilities to India ignoring the plight of local construction workers. These supply chains often rely heavily on sub-contracting, or ‘indirect sourcing’. That is, a company will have a number of suppliers with whom it contracts directly (also referred to as ‘first-tier’ suppliers) and these suppliers will then sub-contract out some (or all) of the work to further suppliers down the chain. These complex and indirect relationships pose significant challenges, particularly when considering regulation and international law responses. 

SEWA also put forth the need to include homeworkers in the report on decent work in global supply chains. This was backed by WIEGO which reiterated points on Homeworkers provided from Nepal, Thailand and Pakistan including the need to ratify the convention in individual countries and give minimum wage to homeworkers, giving official recognition and raised awareness on the absence of data collection on homeworkers. For example, in Thailand there is seen an absence of Minimum wage, OHS and social security scheme which Covered sickness, pension and death. Besides, SEWA put forth the issue of transition from informal to formal economy and paying of minimum wage depending on living wages and not piece rate to the workers.

In the internal discussions amongst the WIEGO meetings, SEWA put forth the plan to liaison with ILO Delhi office which is a part of several government committees. Besides, plans were made to get a National Policy on Homeworkers implemented to complement the Convention 177 on Homeworkers. 

Based on the inputs from the initial discussion on the various stands, the Worker’s group initially asked for:

• To fight for a Convention on Global Supply Chains.

• To ask employers for greater transparency in their supply chains. 


• Measures to increase safety of labour in supply chain


• Promotion of sectorial collective bargaining

• Establishment of minimum living wage rates and minimum wage setting mechanisms.

• Increase corporate accountability

After the initial discussion points, when it came to the draft committee report, SEWA was given the distinct honor of being a part of the prestigious Bureau where only a dozen were selected from amongst 600 members to represent the Indian subcontinent and liasion with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Indian governments and know their views on supporting the respective trade unions from their countriesfor amending the draft report on Global Supply Chains.

In the draft report that came out, the contents focused on EPZ and the weak law ignoring unions and other labour regulations while at the same time, it focused on women in the decent global supply chain, skill training to workers and a major victory for SEWA since homeworkers were included in the global supply chain. Moreover, the Committee recognized the need to include Convention 177 amongst the conventions needed for improving decent work in global supply chains- an effort of SEWA’s constant representations. Besides, points included were:

• Government reporting requirements for linking transparency with accountability. 

• The reproduction of the success of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the challenge to build on this model to address other systemic violations of labour rights in supply chains.

• Due diligence requirements of the Company

• Formal examination of governance gaps and standards 

• Mediation and dispute resolution intervention by ILO

• Due diligence by Companies

• Implementation and ratification of existing principles and guidelines by governments

However, it was observed that construction workers were nowhere mentioned in the committee report. SEWA had previously submitted to the working group chair the conditions and need to recognize work deficit in the Garment and construction industry. This point was put forth along with the need to include cooperatives which was amended by the Committee- another honor in SEWA’s basket.

In the side event to commemorate 20 years of the Convention 177, members of the ILO, SEWA, ITUC and the Belgian government as a part of the panel discussion talked about the history of the convention and happenings at the ILC including the employers reluctance to have this convention. SEWA highlighted the history behind the convention, the state of Beedi workers and how homeworkers contributing 60 percent of labour force in SEWA’s membership. The need of conducting a survey to analyze the number of home based workers and asking the government why C177 was not ratified was highlighted. The minister of labour from Belgium put forth the steps behind the recent ratification of C 177 in their country where the law was an Instrument for making progress with regard to gender equality to enhance quality of women’s work since women were primarily the homeworkers in Belgium providing an informative afternoon uniting homeworker’s representatives globally.

The Conference concluded satisfactorily with the Committee deciding to form a tripartite experts committee to oversee challenges and decide measures for improvement in the global supply chains. SEWA Sisters successfully lobbied the inclusion of its agenda and included homeworkers in the considerations for laws on global supply chains.

Additional Solicitor General of India, Sr. Adv. Pinky Anand: The road post Harvard

Dr. Pinky Anand is a designated Senior Advocate and incumbent Additional Solicitor General of India. A Doctorate of Law, graduate of the Harvard Law School, an Inlaks scholar and Honorary Professor at Amity Law School, she is the second woman in India holding this high Constitutional Law office. In conversation with Manushi Desai, she shares her journey post graduation from the world’s top law school, Harvard.

On getting into the world’s top university: Harvard

I prepared for it as I prepared for everything - I did not think of it as if it's something too high or that I can't achieve it. It was an ambition to go to Harvard. I was inspired by the movie Paper Chase which is a movie based on Harvard Law School and in that generation again there was a fascination to some degree as it is today to go abroad to do your masters. Definitely again it was a step up if you went to American Universities in that time. In a manner, of course, we just did it as a course application, we applied and we got in.

On getting the prestigious Inlaks Scholarship

I applied for Rhodes actually, I did not get the Rhodes, but Rhodes recommended me to Inlaks. I did not even apply for Inlaks and all I know is that Rhodes recommended me. Of course I filled a form afterwards.

On being a first generation lawyer

I am a first generation lawyer, I don't have any lawyers in my family. Now it's a different matter since my husband is a lawyer, my father in law is a lawyer, but that was very much later down the line. I started my practice before that. I don't have any infrastructure, I did not  have any benevolent hand in that sense. And all said and done that's quite a necessary part.

On partnering with a woman lawyer

On the other hand, the reason I did not have as bad a struggle as I should have is because my friend Geeta Luthra who is a senior advocate now and I started practice together. Hence, we were able to bear most of the rigours of the profession much more easily than if you are individuals. In fact it was very unknown of women partnering with each other in the profession. We did not have many women in the profession and we did not have many women partners either. I think partnering was a phenomenon which was somewhat different and it  helped me to get past all the struggles that came one's way.

On the struggles of being a woman lawyer

The principle struggle I think for the female lawyer aside from the fact that you know you are not part of that old Boy's  club is the fact that your friends are not necessarily working and hence you don't have the contacts for getting work and ultimately it is important. Secondly, there is and of course there has always been and still continues, I think to some extent, the fact that there is a prejudice against engaging women counsels. We were fewer in number and people working on their own right were even fewer in number since maybe most were working as juniors or for other people. So I mean, there were struggles but, the first part goes past in a decade. It goes in a flash to the extent I don't have any heartburn which I remember in that sense.

On the magic sauce to success

I think where when you went beyond a point and prove yourself, you actually were acknowledged. You have to continue to be twice a man. So the demonstration effect and the visibility or your proving your mettle is something which has to be done at the first degree level. Having done that, you need to have people who kind of support you.. My family is a very big support, my in-laws are very supportive and I think that's a very important feature too, because professional life is a tough one. You have a very rough life balance. So how do you balance that future? But, I have come to the conclusion that you can't be the best at everything, so it's high time you just try to do what you can and go with that.



On the first big break

Honestly speaking, the first big break we had was from a business group which decided to support or engage one's services and so that gave me a biggest break because I got a retainer and got exposure to various kinds of cases. Being a Marwadi business group, they say you learn more from them than what you learn at Harvard and definitely with the rigours of the profession, you learn far more on your feet than you learn from any text book. We got a wide exposure to wide variety of cases from that group not only in Delhi, but in various parts of Delhi. We used to go to various even district courts and in fact I think even trial courts.

On the ebb and flow of work and my “Swades” moment

One just got breaks from some waters one never solicited work. It never came like that and being convent educated, you kind of say do the Gita way. If you do righteous work it will all come through. But the real world is slightly different although we actually proceeded on that kind of presumption, working with whatever we got. I started with Ms. Geeta Luthra's father who was a Senior Advocate, Mr. K K luthra and learnt quite a bit with him and then we decided to launch of on our own. The work just came from various places and once you did something that one thing lead to another. It was slow and steady, started from trial courts which was also quite a crunch and I used to work in Boston with a law firm and doing fairly well there. Most people were surprised when I came back. However, I was determined to come back to India and stay with my family and friends. I wanted to be first a nationalist and then anything else. Even though when I was leaving my firm in Boston, I got a little bit queasy should I go back or should I not - it was only a very minor twinge, my conviction of coming back was very certain - so much so that when I went for an interview I told them I did not want to stay for more than a year. Also it was surprising to get into Boston since in those days, India was not as well known as it is today. The firm in Boston gave me a job, but I came back and I went to the trial courts and I went to places like even Rohtak or Tiz Hazari constantly.

Lastly- On paying your penance in trial courts

But between you and me, trial courts are great fun. I think you learn the most there and it is a folly to jump straight to the Supreme Court without having done the set up because you really need to understand what law is about and law is made. Its like cooking, you may have pre-cooked meals available but you have to cook yourself - I think you learn a lot from there and also for young lawyers- you are trusted far more with the trial court cases than you are with Higher Court cases- so it was a relation you build- you go up the ladder. The ladder is a very slow one- like snakes and ladders- you went up and you came down - you just struggle it out- it just kind of happened- panels and other people who supported you and otherwise.

KTS Tulsi: My journey to being the Additional Solicitor General of India

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.

Sidharth Luthra: On the early struggle of being a lawyer

I studied mathematics in college. However, I found it dry, and then switched to law. In our time, the options were medicine, engineering and chartered accountancy. In my case, my late father, Mr. K K Luthra, being a senior advocate of eminence, I had an understanding of the field of law, and that prompted me to consider the study of law. I did my LLB from Campus Law Centre after my Mathematics honours at Hindu college.

While in law college, I was interested in research and academia and thereafter went overseas to do an MPhil in Criminology which further spurred my interest in academia and research. My desire was always to be a teacher and not necessarily practice law and I did teach at the Campus Law Centre at Delhi University in the year 1997. I am currently a visiting professor at Northumbria University, UK and I often also teach at judicial academies, to government officials and to corporate lawyers (in-house lawyers). However, since I lost my father in 1997, financial constraints restrained me to continue to teach law and I gave it up after a year and focused on the practice of law.

My father was an eminent criminal lawyer and I did not want to grow up under his shadow so after finishing my masters in 1991, I worked in Bhasin & Co. under Mr. Lalit Bhasin and his team including Ms. Nina Gupta Bhasin, Mr. Atul Sharma now of Linklegal, Mr. Vijay Gupta, Mr, J K Das and others for a year. I started civil and consumer law with them and continued to do civil law till the year 1996. In 1994, I began getting occasional criminal lawyer briefs but in 1996, my late father fell ill and I began to assist him in his matters. At the same time, one of my father’s old associates had left after three decades with him, so my father began relying upon me for assistance and research.

However my desire was only to do civil commercial law So, in that period till 1996, I did a lot of corporate advisory work, set up companies, applied for an industrial licence and got it. While I did go to court and enjoyed it, that was not the end of my practice and I focused on documentation and transaction work. In October 1996, my late father fell ill and as I said, I began doing criminal work with him, and I lost him in May of 1997. When he passed away, most of his existing clientele gave me junior briefs in the matters he had been doing and I continued with those cases.

My next break came when I did the Classic Computers case in Bangalore in 1997 which I, lead by the late Mr. P. R. Vakil, Senior Advocate, succeeded in getting discharged in the High Court for our client who was the supplier of the computers which was upheld in the Supreme Court. About the same time, I got a chance to do a tribunal under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and more importantly, I became the lawyer at the Tehelka Commission for the portal Tehelka.

By this time, my wife, who is also a lawyer and I had two children, the younger one being born in 1998 and the older one being born in 1995. The loss of my father lead to certain financial constraints. So, while my mother had rental income to run the house, I had to take care of the office establishment and my wife and I had to take care of our personal expenses and that of our children, though they have a very generous grandmother who looked after us and even at 92, continues to look after us. The years 1997 onwards till 2000 were years of struggle, financial constraints. I would go for two months not being able to pay the salary of my staff and would borrow from my friends. The work would come in fits and starts and we would not take summer holidays since we could not afford to take them and if at all we would take a vacation, it would be at the holiday home of a relative or some other generous benefactor. Ketki and I used to sleep about 4.5-5 hours a day and the rest of the day used to spend looking after the practice and also keeping a watch on our little children. Between 1998 and 2000, I used to be in Bangalore for 15 days a month while Ketki was here, as a result of which we could not get even our elder son’s forms filled in for a lot of the schools in time who took children at kindergarten and we got our elder son in the next year in the few school that took in children at a later stage.

Till about 2002, there was a lot of struggle, Ketki was working with a senior advocate, Mr. P. V. Kapoor and he used to pay well by the standards of that time; whereas I was dealing with my fledgling practice but we were happy. The first time we bought a car was a Hyundai Santro of which part funds were given by my mother, part by my brother-in-law, part by a friend and we had a loan of about 3000 rupees a month which was stressful. It was a Santro and Ketki and I used to laugh that we only owned one of the four tyres of the car. After Tehelka, things started opening up and I got recognition and acknowledgement and public acceptance as a lawyer practicing criminal law.

So my criminal law practice really began in 1997 and I still have more recollections of the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code or so I believe, than of criminal procedure code! My work began picking up after 2002-03, when I began getting lot of opportunities in junior briefs and by 2003-04, I was being briefed extensively. Ketki and I had our independent practices- she doing civil & commercial work and I doing criminal work, though between 1998 and 2000, she had done a lot of my criminal matters as well, while I was away to Bangalore. But, after 2003, this large office of about 15 lawyers was doing its own work and I was getting a lot of junior counsel briefs and by 2003-04, judges in the high court would not giving me a Passover. I took it as a challenge and started accepting a lot of junior counsel’s individual briefs and began building my work.

In December 2006, I was sounded out to apply for designation as Senior Counsel. I applied for designation in July 2007 and was designated when I was 41 years of age. That became a time to reinvent myself and it was harder and more challenging since one was not competing with younger lawyers but with more able and more capable, experienced and knowledgeable senior counsels. I began picking up work as a senior counsel, I was always flexible on fees which helped me in good stead. Also, I would always do my own research and I continue to have my own research done, irrespective of whether the briefing junior has done research or not. My reliance is on my own work largely and my inhouse junior’s research, though sometimes there is a lot to learn from what the briefing counsel brings to the table, since they have naturally a larger and more comprehensive picture format.

In 2009, I got a big break, which was being appointed as government advocate under the Judges Inquiry Act regarding the impeachment of Justice Soumitra Sen, where we succeeded. The Rajya Sabha upheld the judgment but he resigned before the motion could be taken up in the Lok Sabha.
One thing I must add that I was offered judgeship when I was 43, in the year 2009 and thereafter again later but I took a personal and conscious decision with the support of my family especially my wife that it was not the stage for me – the reason really was that we have too many family members in the profession at Delhi and I was not really willing to leave Delhi with an aging mother and aging in laws. 

Thereafter, I got a chance to become Additional Solicitor General in 2012, having been sounded out in 2011 and I did two years as Additional Solicitor General, doing a variety of work which was very challenging and which gave me a lot more confidence building me for what I am today.

Role of Opposition Party

This was translated for a gujarati publication

Ever since the opposing party concept in democracy was implemented, their function was to keep a check on the actions of the ruling party. It was to assist to bring the ruling party to the map of the world.  The opposing party was not envisioned to detriment the positive economic benefit being brought by the ruling party but highlight and amend the wrong steps taken by the ruling party. However, opposite parties have taken upon themselves to malign the ruling party on every occasion and it appears that the power to raise their voice is only used to put forth their own agenda rather than change the course of the country towards betterment. Local leaders of the opposite party are the most active in demeaning the efforts of the ruling party’s initiatives. This brings about the negative impact of living in a democratic environment where right of freedom of speech is being a tool of abuse.  Most prevalent form of this abuse of freedom of speech is through newspapers. While newspapers exist to highlight current events there is no maturity in publishing the news.  Today’s newspapers exist to sell themselves. In this opinionated world filled with various media platforms such as twitter, facebook and message forwards, controversial news are the best selling news and media thrives on such news without validating their meaning. While in the US, newspapers are only one of the various tools of gaining information apart from social media online, most of India still uses newspapers as their primary source of getting information. Hence, instead of highlighting the efforts and initiatives of the ruling party, newspapers end up showcasing only the controversial part often ignoring the development which is seen. Where the founders of constitution envisioned the opposite party’s role to correct the ruling party as it governed our country, what is being created is a ruckus with parties trying to highlight only their voices instead of moving towards a common goal of reforming India through constructive criticism.