Iqbal Chagla, son of former Bombay High Court Chief Justice M C Chagla, was unwell for a few days.
Chagla led the Bombay Bar Association, one of the oldest in the country of practicing lawyers, for terms from 1990 to 1999.
Senior advocate and one of India’s leading lawyers Iqbal M Chagla, who passed away Sunday in Mumbai at the age of 85, was known as much for his legal acumen as for his tenure as President of Bombay Bar Association, where he advocated against corruption in the judiciary in the 1990s, with resolutions passed against six sitting judges, even leading to resignations.
Born in 1939, Chagla was the son of M C Chagla, the first permanent Indian Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court from 1948-58. Having completed his Masters in History and Law from Cambridge University, Chagla returned to then Bombay to practice in the Bombay High Court. He was designated as a senior advocate at an early age of 39 and was later offered the position of judge in the High Court and in the Supreme Court. But he refused — even though he would eventually have been elevated to the position of the Chief Justice of India.
Chagla led the Bombay Bar Association, one of the oldest in the country of practicing lawyers, for terms from 1990 to 1999.
“Iqbal was one of the greatest giants of the legal profession. I personally knew him for over 50 years. He was a fine advocate, a great opponent and a wonderful human being. He was a role model,” said senior advocate Rafique Dada, a former president of the Association.
“The Association has been completely independent and is known to fight for the right causes. Iqbal Chagla personally became a petitioner in matters before the Supreme Court where the judges of various high courts were being transferred indiscriminately. In every major matter, I believe that he took correct and courageous decisions, never afraid of any powers that be or governments. That has been the true tradition and standard of the Bar. Iqbal set that standard,” said Dada, who was vice-president of the Bar Association during some years of Chagla’s tenure.
Senior advocate Yusuf Mucchala said he knew Chagla for over five decades from 1962-63, when they both began practicing in the High Court. “Apart from being a brilliant lawyer, his presentation was also a lesson for every junior. As a president of the Bombay Bar Association, he took very courageous decisions. When the Justice Srikrishna Commission was set up after the 1992-93 Bombay riots, he had taken the lead as the president of the Association, having felt that it should help the commission find the truth. The Association had filed affidavits on behalf of some of the victims. This stemmed from his personal belief to maintain the values of secularism; he was secular at heart, committed to the values of the Constitution,” Mucchala said.
According to him, Chagla’s death is a loss not only for his family members, including his son and sitting judge of the Bombay High Court Riyaz Chagla, but has also left a “void in the legal fraternity which is difficult to fill”.
“There are countless lawyers who are inspired by him; we had seen him from our younger days as lawyers. He was known to be a fair opponent and one can say that he worked till the end. He was appearing in the Dawoodi Bohra sect (dispute) until a few months ago,” said current Bombay Bar Association president Nitin Thakker.
“I M Chagla’s contributions to the legal field are immeasurable and his legacy will forever be remembered. His dedication, integrity and excellence has inspired countless legal professionals. The Bombay Bar Association mourns the loss of a true champion of human rights and protector of the rule of law,” a statement by the Bombay Bar Association’s secretary, Farhan Dubash, said.
In 2020, Chagla wrote a column for The Indian Express, in which he spoke about his tenure as president of the association. “In 1990, it fell upon myself to move resolutions against five sitting judges of the Bombay High Court, impugning their integrity and calling for their resignation. I was warned by friends that this constituted clear criminal contempt and under the extant law, justification was not a defence. My only raison d’etre was that one owed it to posterity not to sit idle even as the fountain of justice was polluted. The resolutions were passed, albeit with much-heated debate: One judge resigned, two were transferred and two were denied any further judicial work,” he wrote.
Chagla further wrote that five years later, he had to move another resolution, this time against a sitting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, calling for his resignation on grounds of corruption. The judge had to subsequently resign, he wrote.
