5. Hormasji "Homi" Maneckji Seervai

The other famous Advocate and jurist of the past time Late Hormasji “Homi” Maneckji Seervai was born on 05.12.2006 at Bombay in a Parsi family.
Due to poor financial condition of his family he is struggled and completed his education upto earning his Law Degree from Govt. Law College, Mumbai.
At the young age of 23 years, he has joined the BAR at Bambay in the year 1929.
He started his career with his Senior Sir Jamshedji Behramji Kanga in the year 1932.

Mr. Seervai was appointed as Advocate General of Bombay during the period from 1957 to 1960 and also thereafter, of Maharastra since the year 1960 until he signed in the 1964.

Later on, Mr. Seervai was also appointed as Attorney General of India by the Central Govt. and appeared and defended the Govt. in so many matters before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. As an Advocate General he defended decision of Govt. of Bombay to ban prize Competitions, in the nature of lotteries. He won the case for the Govt. of Bombay and the Hon'ble Supreme Court set aside the Judgment of Bombay High Court.

By his nature Mr. Seervai was very simple person. His achievement as an eminent Advocate speaks about himself as he wrote a Book titled as “Constitutional Law of India-a Critical Commentary” in the year 1967.

He argued the famous Case of Kesvanand Bharti vs. State of Kerala in the year 1973. In this case it was decided by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that a legislature, elected for legislative process, is not legally entitled to amend the basic structure of the Constitution.

On account of his ability as an Advocate and as a fine and humble human being, he was offered the judgeship of the Supreme Court on two occasions but he very humbly refused to accept the offer.

He owns several decorations by way of conferring the Padma Vibhushan in 1972 to him and Dadabhai Naoroji Prize in the year 1981. So much so, in the year 1994, the International Bar Association recognized him as “Living Legend of Law”. Apart from above, he was respected / honoured even by English Judge Lord Denning when he said about him that “Mr. Seervai was a great personality and one of the most learned person I have never met”.

The other aspect of his life can be gathered from the fact that when he was offered the post of Attorney General of India by the Central Govt. in 1971 then he refused to accept the Post only for the reason that he wanted to work upon which famous Commentary on judicial interpretation of the Constitution for publishing it’s next edition.

Although, he was born and brought up in Bombay and practiced before the High Court Bombay and later on, before the Hon'ble Supreme Court but in the case of Keshav Singh he was engaged and appeared for U.P. Legislature.

Apart from writing the Commentary on “Constitution Law of India”, he has penned the other Books like “The Emergency, “Future Safeguards & Habeas Corpus Case”; “A Criticism; “The Position of the Judiciary under the Constitution of India” etc.

Lastly, in the year 2005, his wife Smt. Feroza Seervai wrote a Book “Envoking H.M. Seervai; Jurist & Authority on the Union Constitution”.

The great jurist Mr. H.M. Seervai died on 26.01.1996 which created a huge gap in the Judicial circle in India.

Mr. H.M. Seervai was (and is still) a role model of many Advocates and Judges also.