Biography

HM Seervai was educated at Elphinstone College

Elphinstone College

Elphinstone College is an institution of higher education affiliated to the University of Mumbai. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges of the University of Mumbai. It was exalted as a prestigious seat of learning during the British Raj and is generally observed for its vibrant alumni...

, Bombay (present-day Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

). He was called to the bar

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

 in 1929, and then served in the chambers of the legendary Sir Jamshedji Behramji Kanga.

Seervai served as Advocate General

Advocate General

An Advocate General is a senior law officer of a country or other jurisdiction, usually charged with advising the courts or Government on legal matters.-India:In India, an Advocate General is a legal adviser to a state government...

 of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

 from 1957 until his resignation in 1974. During those years, he was offered various other positions in the Indian judicial system, including a seat on the Indian Supreme Court and as Attorney General for India. He declined these positions preferring to contribute through critical analysis of higher court judgements.

Those who are familiar with the legal profession know that his 3 volume work on Constitutional Law is the finest work on the subject and if an Indian advocate is well versed in it, he is automatically considered worthy of respect. Seervai was a man above all dedicated to truth and justice. This is precisely why he earned the respect of his colleagues, clients and readers alike.


Simplicity


In many respects, Seervai, the man, was greater than Seervai, the lawyer, but the two characters were inextricably mixed, making him the most respected person in law and giving him that indefinable eminence over several lawyers of his day who were reputed to be clever and more astute than he was. At a time when other seniors at the Bar made handsome incomes at the Bar, Seervai’s annual income would have put a junior to shame. He was quite indifferent to financial rewards in the profession and had contempt for lawyers who prided themselves in having a lucrative practice. The word lucrative, he reminded them, meant greed for gain. When he was told it would not be wrong to take high fees if clients were willing to pay them, Seervai retorted, “If a man was willing to be robbed would you be a thief?”

Achievements and awards

Seervai is best known for his 1967 analysis, the Constitutional Law of India - a Critical Commentary. This work contributed significantly to the Kesavananda Bharati vs. The State of Kerala case (1973) that led to the development of the "Basic structure

Basic structure

The basic structure doctrine is the judge-made principle that certain features of the Constitution of India are beyond the limit of the powers of amendment of the Indian parliament. The doctrine, which was first expressed by the Indian Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharati v...

 doctrine", which inhibits politically-motivated changes to the Constitution of India

Constitution of India

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions, and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles, and the duties of citizens...

. His most famous case, 'Keshavananda Bharati vs the State of Kerala 1973, perhaps is a case the full repercussions of which have not yet completely been understood but which stands as the defining and distinguishing part of democracy under the written constitution vs. the British model. The decision in this matter established that a legislature, elected for the legislative process, does not have the ability to amend the basic structure of the constitution.
This in itself indicates a departure from the British Westminster democracy, where the unwritten constitution can be amended at will by the British parliament, which is the ultimate sovereign. The Indian Parliament however cannot change the basic structure of the Indian constitution and the same principle is championed in later cases by the Supreme Court of India. Seervai’s impact thus on defining the limits of parliamentary sovereignty and in declaring the constitution supreme has been great for the entire subcontinent and today it has become an accepted principle, upheld by the Supreme Court of Pakistan as well.

Recognition of his eminence came in many ways. He was offered judgeship of the Supreme Court twice. Each time he declined it. He was conferred the Padma Vibhushan

Padma Vibhushan

The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...

 in 1972. In 1981, the British Academy elected Seervai its Corresponding Fellow, a distinction reserved for scholars of the highest academic distinction. Also in 1981, he was awarded the Dadabhai Naoroji Prize

Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji , known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political leader. His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain...

. In 1982, Seervai was elected Honorary Fellow of the Asiatic Society of Bombay

Asiatic Society of Bombay

The Asiatic Society of Mumbai, a learned society in the field of Asian studies, is based in Mumbai, India. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on November 26, 1804, and was founded by Sir James Mackintosh. It was formed with the intention of...

. The International Bar Association

International Bar Association

The International Bar Association is an international association of lawyers and lawyers' associations. The IBA's stated purpose is to promote an exchange of information between legal associations worldwide, support the independence of the judiciary and the right of lawyers to practice their...

 recognized him as a "Living Legend of Law" in 1994. Lord Denning, the doyen of all judges said, “He was a great personality and one of the most learned I have met.” However, the most fining recognition of his eminence was the Government of India’s offer to appoint him the Attorney-General for India in 1971. Declining the office with thanks, he wrote in his own hand to the Law Minister that the best contribution that he could make to the law was not to appear in Court but to “embody in successive editions of his book the correct judicial interpretation of the Constitution”. One cannot think of any lawyer in the world declining such a high office for the sake of writing a scholarly thesis.

His controversial Partition of India: Legend and Reality (1989) challenged the existing view that blamed the partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

 on M A Jinnah and the Muslim League. He argued that it was the latent bias on the part of Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

 leadership which resulted in partition. It is a painstakingly accurate exercise of sifting through the Transfer of Power Papers, apart from dozens of other books on the subject of Partition, after which like a true jurist, Mr. Seervai has given his verdict and it is an interesting verdict but also a journey towards discovering the truth for Mr. Seervai. The journey, Mr. Seervai says, started for Rajmohan Gandhi

Rajmohan Gandhi

Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.Gandhi's maternal grandfather was C...

 with his fascinating inquiry into the life of Mr. Mahomed Ali Jinnah in which the author did not shy away from criticizing his famous grandfather Mohandas Gandhi for introducing religion into politics and refusing to accommodate the Muslims to share power. Rajmohan Gandhi’s thesis was considerably developed by Seervai, who after his indepth research and study on the subject, came to the conclusion that the INC, rather than the Muslim League, and Gandhi, Nehru & Patel, rather than Jinnah were primarily responsible for Partition.

Books on Seervai:
"The Seervai Legacy"

Books by Seervai:

"Constitutional Law of India, Vol.3, 4th Edition"

"The Emergency, Future Safeguards & the Habeas Corpus Case: A Criticism"

"The Position of the Judiciary under the Constitution of India".

"Partition of India: Legend and Reality" (this monologue was included in the fourth edition of Seervai's monumental "Constitutional Law of India")