M.K. Nambyar-50th Anniversary Tribute

M.K. Nambyar belongs to that rare breed of men - original, creative and illustrious and whose contribution to the making and development of law was truly outstanding. This December 18 marks the 50th anniversary of his passing. It is appropriate that we remember him, his great life and work which is both a model and an inspiration and pay tribute to his sacred memory.Meloth Krishnan Nambyar was born on January 1, 1898, in village Chemnad in North Kerala. He had his primary education at the Government Primary School near home and the Puthiyakotta Mission School. He did his SSLC and Intermediate from St. Aloysius, Mangalore in 1914 and 1916 respectively. He then joined the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam and obtained his B.A. degree in 1919. Thereafter he took his law degree – B.L. from the Madras Law College where he had a distinguished academic career winning several medals. Nambyar was an apprentice under the renowned lawyer Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer. In early 1924 he joined the Bar and set up practice at Mangalore.From the District Bar to the All India Bar, from the District Court in Mangalore to the Apex Court was a long and incredible journey, nevertheless very true. How he ultimately came to occupy the centre stage in the Supreme Court and make invaluable contribution to the evolution and development of our Constitutional Law is the story of M.K. Nambyar-the saga of his life and work. There was nothing extraordinary in the first few years. Clients came to him with civil and criminal cases and life went on at a steady pace. Then Nambyar was engaged for the plaintiff in a hotly contested civil suit involving his family where the dispute centred round the right of redemption of a usufructory mortgage. The suit was decreed by the trial court. The Madras High Court dismissed the appeal where Nambyar appeared along with Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar for the respondent-plaintiff. The matter was carried further in appeal to the Privy Council and that took Nambyar to England to instruct counsel appearing for the respondent. Having gone to England he decided to stay back and pursue higher studies in 1931-33. He did his LLM in Constitutional Law and International Law from the London School of Economics where he stood first and he was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn. His foresight in choosing Constitutional Law as the subject for his Master's Degree is really admirable in as much as he foresaw that with the Independence movement gaining ground a Constitution would be framed for free India. Nambyar appeared along with P.V. Subba Rao for the respondents before the Privy Council in the family case, judgement in which is reported in Ambu Nair v. Kelu Nair, AIR 1933 PC 167.Returning from U.K., Nambyar's practice picked up though it was still at the district level in Mangalore. Between 1933 and 1938 Nambyar forged ahead at the Bar. Then for about a decade from 1938 he was Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor at Mangalore handling both civil and criminal cases with quiet ability. That was immediately after the 1937 elections under the Government of India Act and Rajaji was the Premier of the erstwhile Madras Province. In 1947 when he had completed his third term Nambyar declined an extension and shifted his practice to the High Court, joining the Madras Bar in September 1947, and the best was yet to come. This was essentially at the invitation of P. Govinda Menon who was elevated to the Madras High Court in July, 1947. Menon asked Nambyar to go over to Madras and take up all his briefs. Nambyar accepted the invitation and the challenge. The rest is history. He flowered as a constitutional lawyer and became one of the leading and most distinguished in that field. Right from the inception of the Constitution he was associated with landmark cases involving the basic freedoms and fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.It is said that while he was practising at Mangalore, Nambyar aspired to join the subordinate judiciary. That did not happen and though it might have been disappointing then, what a future beckoned him! As Sri Aurobindo said: When thou art able to see how necessary is suffering to final delight, failure to utter effectiveness, retardation to lasting rapidity, then thou mayest begin to understand something, however dimly and faintly of God's working.Nambyar, a migrant from the mofussil, with his quiet dignity, deep humility and mellowed wisdom rubbed shoulders with the front rank lawyers of Madras and soon joined their ranks securing a unique position for himself as a leading constitutional lawyer and jurist. He commanded a large and lucrative practice in the Madras High Court particularly in cases relating to nationalisation of transport.When he shifted his practice to Madras in 1947, Nambyar was considered an excellent criminal lawyer. It was when he infused constitutional law into one of the early cases he argued in the Madras High Court that Barrister V.G. Row noting his command over...

M.K. Nambyar-50th Anniversary Tribute

V. Sudhish Pai, Senior Advocate

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