Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan Fali Sam Nariman

Fali Sam Nariman (Jury RTIAwards)

Fali Sam Nariman (born 10 January 1929) is a jury member of RTIAwards right to information awards distinguished Indian Constitutional jurist, and senior advocate to the Supreme Court of India since 1971 and has remained the President of the Bar Association of India since 1991. Nariman is an internationally recognized authority on international arbitration. He is one of India's most distinguished constitutional lawyers and he has argued several leading cases. He remained Additional Solicitor General of India May 1972- June 1975.

He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan (1991), Padma Vibhushan (2007) and Gruber Prize for Justice (2002) and has remained a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Parliament of India for a term (1999–2005).
Early life, education & career
Born in 1929 in Rangoon to Sam Bariyam ji Nariman, Fali did his schooling from Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. Thereafter he studied B.A. (Hon.), in Economics and History from St. Xavier's College, Bombay (now Mumbai), followed by a Law degree (LL.B.) from the Government Law College, Mumbai in 1950, after standing first in the Advocate's Examination and been awarded the Kinlock Forbes Gold Medal and Prize for Roman Law & Jurisprudence.
Fali started his law practice at the Bombay High Court after practising for 22 years, he was appointed a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India in 1971, a position he retains to date.

Together with Nani Palkhivala, whom Fali Nariman assisted in the landmark Kesavananda Bharati v. The State of Kerala case, Nariman was instrumental to the development of the Indian Constitution's "Basic structure" doctrine, which restricts the degree by which the Indian parliament may amend the Constitution. Nariman was Additional Solicitor General of India from May 1972 to 25 June 1975, resigning from that post upon the Declaration of Emergency on 26 June 1975.

Nariman was a President-appointee member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Parliament of India) between 1999 and 2005. He has served as President of International Council for Commercial Arbitration since 1994, President of the Bar Association of India since 1991, Vice-Chairman of the Internal Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce since 1989, honorary member of the International Commission of Jurists since 1988, member of the London Court of International Arbitration since 1988. He was appointed to the Advisory Board of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in November 1999 and served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists from 1995 to 1997.