Nani Palkhivala

Nani Palkhivala

Nanabhoy Palkhivala (January 16, 1920-December 11, 2002), was an Indian jurist, diplomat and economist. He was educated at Master's Tutorial High School, and later at St. Xavier's College, both in Bombay. He was a dedicated scholar and excelled even though he was hampered by a bad stammer. At college, he earned a master's degree in English literature. He enrolled at Government Law College, Bombay, where he discovered that he had a gift for jurisprudence.

Palkhivala's biggest gift to the nation is probably the Kesavnanda Bharti case of 1972, which lead to the historic pronouncement by the full bench of the Supreme Court that Parliament could amend the Constitution, but could not alter its basic structure. He also refused to take up Indira Gandhi's appeal against her election dismissal in the Allahabad High Court. It is believed Gandhi sent intelligence to stake him out during the course of the Emergency. Palkhivala was also an active supporter of the United States and was the Ambassador to the United States during the Janata Party tenure(1977-79) . He was also the President of Indo American Society.