No single phrase can do justice to the many splendoured personality of Homi Seervai who passed away on January 26, 1996. A brilliant advocate, an erudite jurist, an eminent author, a philosopher, cognoscenti of literature and, above all, a wonderful human being. Seervai was not born with a silver spoon. He lost his father at an early age. He was brought up in straightened economic circumstances by his mother to whom he was greatly devoted. When Seervai joined the Bar the waiting period was long but he declined offers of lucrative jobs, following his mother's advice to continue in the profession and to ``be not afraid because short-cuts and compromises are not open to you''. Seervai acted on that sound advice throughout his life. He made no compromises, took no shortcuts. Courage was his outstanding quality. When he perceived wrongdoing he lambasted the powers that be without caring for the consequences. He did not flinch from devastating criticism of some judgments of the Supreme Court and the judges who delivered them. Seervai's claim to fame truly rests on his monumental work, The Constitutional Law of India, which in the words of Lord Bingham ``has an assured place among the great legal treatises of the world''. For him this work was a mission. He declined the office of the Attorney General of India which was offered to him in 1971 because, as stated in his handwritten letter to the law minister, he believed that the best contribution that he could make was to embody in the successive editions of his book ``the result of much reflection and careful and patient analysis of judicial interpretation of the Constitution''! It is a pity that he has forbidden further editions of the book. Seervai and I often appeared on opposite sides. Sparks did occasionally fly in court. In the Hall's Wine case Seervai, a teetotaller, demolished our stand that Halls Wine was not liquor but a nutrious product outside the purview of the Bombay Prohibition Act. Considerable heat was generated during the hearing of the celebrated Keshavanand Bharati case in the Supreme Court when Seervai derided our arguments about the basic structure of the Constitution. Although firm in his beliefs, Seervai was not obdurate. He was willing to learn by experience and change his views in the light of subsequent events as he did in accepting the correctness of Keshavanand Bharati in his magnum opus. Seervai initially believed that stern measures ought to be taken to control the opposition, which had started a campaign of destabilisation and disobedience of laws. When the excesses committed during the emergency became known he became its trenchant critic. It was indeed a good fortune to be in the intimate circle of Seervai's friends. In a sense he endorsed Madame D'Epinay's sentiment in her letter to Rousseau that ``We should love our friends as true lovers of art love pictures; they keep their eyes fixed on the good points and do not notice the others''. His affection and loyalty for his friends was boundless. He regularly visited his dear friend Rustom Andhyarujina during the period of his last illness. If he were alive, he would undoubtedly visit and provide solace to his great contemporary, Nani Palkhiwala, in his present illness. Seervai practiced law in the grand manner and reminded us about the nobility of the profession. Greed was alien to his nature. He belonged to a generation which cherished the values of truth, goodness and beauty and approximated them in his daily life. He disliked ostentation and pomposity. His happiest moments were with his family who loved him dearly. No account of Seervai's life can be complete without mention of his wife, Feroza, with whom he discussed and whose advice he sought on every subject under the sun. If marriages are made in heaven, theirswas one of them. I have yet to come across a couple so understanding, so loving, so devoted as Homi and Feroza. Daughter Meher recounts that they would stop to embrace and kiss as they took a walk in that delightful hill station, Matheran. On January 26, 1996, Seervai died suddenly, without a preceding illness, while watching the video of his favourite film, Cromwell. Just the day earlier he had finished dictating the last case for an addendum to the fourth edition of his great work. Earth indeed did receive an honoured guest when Homi Seervai was laid to rest.The writer is the Attorney General of India
