'Account Of Life Lived To Fullest' : KK Venugopal's “An Accidental Lawyer”

Growing up in the backdrop of World War II, Venugopal or Venu, as he was called fondly, had little ambition. His earlier days were spent as a Boy Scout, to his mother's utter dismay. Later days were spent imitating Western cowboys and reading Western comics.

His father, M.K. Nambyar, on the other hand, had become a household name after appearing in landmark AK Gopalan(1950) and Golaknath(1967) cases, which had set the stage for the major constitutional developments to take place in the country. But it's not like fate had no plans for Venugopal. Though his first brief may have come through the legacy his father had built, Venugopal stayed for what the profession offered itself to him, and continues to do so.

Venugopal began his career taking up motor vehicle cases in the Madras High Court. He eventually rose to the occasion and started appearing in high-profile matters.

In his memoir, 'An Accidental Lawyer,' Venugopal shares some of the interesting incidents in his tryst with appearing for political parties. One such was when the Emergency was in full swing, and the DMK government was dismissed in 1976, as Indira Gandhi's government had imposed Presidential Rule on the report of the then Governor. The grounds of dismissal were the alleged corruption of the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi.

Venugopal appeared for the DMK, alleging mala fide on the central government for misusing powers under Article 352 of the Indian Constitution. Although he had expected the matter to be dismissed, given the emergency was looming over judges as well, the petition was admitted by Justice Ramanujam, who was a former chamber junior of Justice Veeraswami, who was the then CJ of the Madras High Court.

Venugopal writes that whilst a hearing was going on, the CBI officer flew down to Madras and filed a chargesheet against Justice Veeraswami on allegations of corruption. The Registrar General had come midst the hearing, got up and stood over a stool and whispered to him that Congress tabloids are reporting was going to be arrested.

Many may know that this led to the 1991 judgment of the Supreme Court establishing the 'In-House Procedure', which said that judges are public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, but the approval of the Chief Justice of India would be necessary to register an FIR against them.

Another incident was when he appeared to defend the Shah Commission inquiring into the excesses of the Emergency. Venugopal was offered the position of Additional Solicitor General by the Janata Government. The commission had prosecuted former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, but she had moved the Delhi High Court for a stay. Her prosecution was set aside, and it was immediately appealed before the Supreme Court. But barely weeks later, the government fell, and Congress came to power again.

Venugopal writes that although he resigned, his resignation was not accepted because the government was then overwhelmed with cases. He had to then appear in an appeal as a law officer of the Union against the Union. “The appeal against the decision of the Delhi High Court was pending admission before the Supreme Court, and therefore, despite the government having fallen and Indira Gandhi having come to power, I remained ASG. Therefore, curiously, the matter got listed before the Supreme Court, and there I was appearing on behalf of the central government, arguing that the then Prime Minister should be prosecuted under the Indian Penal Code!”

Another incident, which Venugopal writes has taken a strange turn, was regarding the challenge to the allotment of plots made by then Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu under his discretionary quota. He writes that he appeared for Basu before the Calcutta High Court, where this scheme was challenged. Justice BP Banerjee had passed an interim order banning further allotments, but said that the order will not prevent allotments in the Salt Lake City area. On the same day, the judge wrote to CM Basu, asking for an allotment of a suitable plot, which was allotted to him.

The learned judge in the subsequent hearing dismissed the writ petition, but the matter took a strange turn when it came to the Supreme Court. “When the bench of the Supreme Court found that the conduct of Justice B.P. Banerjee in passing an interim order conferring power on the chief minister to make the allotments from his own quota according to his own discretion, and then following up the order by applying to the chief minister for an allotment in Salt Lake City, was very unbecoming, and was 'beyond condonable'”.

These incidents make 'An Accidental Lawyer,' an easy and interesting read for students as well as for lawyers. Divided into 27 small chapters, it feels quite easier to skim through chapters, not just because they are interesting. Venugopal writes with so much ease that despite his towering personality, he comes across like a boy next door.

Each chapter gives a glimpse into his personal life—his family, friends, and foes, his travel adventures—to the North Pole, silent valley and crazy encounter with elephants, and his professional life—turbulent years as SCBA's President, witnessing Sikh riots, Babri Masjid demolition, betrayal of CM Kalyan Singh.

There is a humane touch with which he has reflected over his life, and there is a beauty with which he has lived his life to the fullest, even though much of it, as the title suggests, has happened accidentally. 

The video of the book launch can be seen here.