Rohinton Fali Nariman

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rohinton Fali Nariman

• Rohinton Fali Nariman is the son of the late Indian jurist Fali S Nariman.

• While pursuing L.L.M. at Harvard University, he was taught by famous professors such as Laurence Tribe and Roberto Mangabeira Unger.

• In 1979, Nariman started working as a lawyer after joining the Bar.

• The Times of India praised him as one of the top ten lawyers of his time. ^[14]The Times of India

• After his year at Harvard, he worked as a maritime lawyer in New York at Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens for a year.

• He became a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India on 15 December 1993, at just 37 years old. Chief Justice Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah changed the rules to appoint Nariman since the usual minimum age for such designation in the Supreme Court was 45. ^[15]Parsi Khabar

• Nariman practised law for more than 30 years and has contributed to over 500 reported Supreme Court judgments.

• He is highly skilled in Comparative Constitutional Law and Civil Law and has argued many important cases, including significant constitutional bench judgments like P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra and State of Punjab v. Devans Modern Breweries Ltd.

• He has handled the well-known gas-sharing dispute between Anil Ambani’s Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited. ^[16]The Indian Express

• He also established the Supreme Court Lawyers Welfare Trust, which aims to support new talent and ensure the welfare of lawyers.

• At the age of 55, he served as the Solicitor General of India. Nariman resigned from this position on 4 February 2013, after eighteen months of service. The exact reason for his resignation is not publicly known, although there were speculations of a strained relationship with the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar. ^[17]NDTV

• On 7 July 2014, he was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of India, becoming the fifth justice to be directly promoted from the Bar to the Supreme Court. ^[18]Livemint He reached the retirement age of 65 on 12 August 2021.

• In November 2016, he published a book called ‘The Inner Fire: Faith, Choice, and Modern-Day Living in Zoroastrianism,’ focusing on the Zoroastrian religion.

  

• On 11 November 2022, he was felicitated during the Tarkunde Memorial lecture at the India International Center in New Delhi.