Contributions of leftist lawyers towards development of Constitutional law not acknowledged: Dr. Justice S Muralidhar

The contributions made by leftist lawyers to the development of Constitutional law have not been documented well enough, Orissa High Court Chief Justice Dr. S Muralidhar said on Sunday while urging law researchers to make efforts to examine and write about it..Justice Muralidhar said that all ideologies should be welcome in legal field and contributions of people who believe in a particular ideology should not be shunned merely because one does not subscribe to that ideology. "I earnestly plead with law researchers, the contributions of leftist lawyers or lawyers who shared leftist ideologies, to the development of Constitutional law has not been written about enough," he said. In this regard, he also observed how people steeped in political ideologies have contributed immensely to law, taking the examples of Senior Advocates Arun Jaitley and Viswanath Pasayat."Late Arun Jaitley for instance was a student leader, part of ABVP, became a very successful lawyer and distinguished himself in political life. What life of Viswanath Pasayat tells us is that being steeped in politics brings something very rich to the development of law and Constitutional law," said Justice Muralidhar."We should look forward to different ideologies coming to the field. We should not keep out any ideology because it is an ideology we do not agree with. We must allow these ideologies to co-exist and contribute richly to the development of Constitutional law," he added.He was speaking at a function organised on the 109th birth anniversary late Viswanath Pasayat by the Viswanath Pasayat Memorial Committee.Justice Muralidhar said that Pasayat was a person who was viewed by some as a veteran communist and by many other as a socialist."But what everyone seems to agree upon is that he took up the cause of the poor. And if you look at the cases he argued, he argued a large number of cases of preventive detention of political leaders," he said.This, Justice Muralidhar said, set him thinking about the intersection of politics and law and how contributions of persons like Pasayat and other socialists or communist lawyers have not been acknowledged.Justice Muralidhar then proceeded to highlight the contributions of leftists starting with MN Roy who drafted the "Constitution of free India" in 1944."Mr. MN Roy’s contribution is quite immense. He was one of the early authors of a draft Constitution of India. If you look at Indian Constitutional history, you have MN Roy's Constitution. How much of his Constitution came to be adopted in the Constitution of India will be a matter of research," the judge said.In this regard, he said that the second person whose memory Viswanath Pasayat triggers is of communist leader late AK Gopalan."One of the foremost communist leaders in Kerala and contemporary of EMS Namboodiripad the first Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. AK Gopalan on the eve of freedom was in jail. He was in jail when freedom was being celebrated," Justice Muralidhar said.He also referred to a book by a senior leftist lawyer in this regard - 'Wages of Impunity' by KG Kannabiran. "KG Kannabiran in his book refers to the fact that AK Gopalan tried to march with the Indian flag in jail and was again detained. The Defence of India Act was applied, this was in free India. But you can imagine leftist lawyers made to the development of Constitutional law," said Justice Muralidhar.He then proceeded to highlight the immense contributions of Justice VR Krishna Iyer, a card holding member of Communist Party. "He was part of Mr. EMS Namboodiripad’s cabinet. One of the early successful legal aid movements came about, when Justice Krishna Iyer drafted legal aid rules for the State of Kerala when he was minister in EMS cabinet. And he brought that when he became part of Law Commission, he was part of Expert Committee on Legal Aid. Who can dispute the immense contribution of Justice Krishna Iyer to the development of law," asked Justice Muralidhar.Further, he reminded about how Justice Krishna Iyer's appointment to Supreme Court came about due to another leftist in the Central government, Mohan Kumaramangalam."He (Justice Krishna Iyer) could never have become a Supreme Court judge but for the fact that Mr. Mohan Kumaramangalam another leftist, was part of Central government. These are all happy coincidences for the development of Constitutional law." "I could go on with this list. Justice PB Sawant belonged to Communist Party. Who can deny the immense contribution that Justice Sawant made to the development of Constitutional law," said Justice Muralidhar..The event was also attended by Supreme Court judge Justice UU Lalit and retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Rohinton Nariman. Read more about Justice Nariman's speech here.