Former Attorney General and Solicitor General of India Ashok Desai passes away

Senior Advocate Ashok Desai passed away on 13 April 2020.

Ashok Desai was a Senior Advocate practicing in the Supreme Court of India. He had held office as the Attorney General for India from July 1996 to May 1998. Before that, he had held position of the Solicitor General of India from December 1989 to December 1990. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2001. He was also awarded Degree of Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) in "recognition of his contribution to the field of law and jurisprudence" by the North Orissa University on 14 September 2009.

In 1956, he graduated from the London University with Honours in B.Sc. Economics. That very year, he was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn, London. He was part of the Harvard International Seminar in 1967. He started practice in Bombay High Court in 1956. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in the year 1977.

As an Advocate he appeared in a large number of cases in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court particularly those involving issues of accountability in public life & transparency in Governance. He has won various awards including Lifetime Achievement Award by Legal Era (2018-19).

He has authored several books and articles.

Ashok Desai had once said, "At the end of the day, I should be brief but I will be failing in my duty if I do not follow the Indian tradition of honouring my gurus – the two Professors who taught me, and I dare say that nobody else compares with Professor Palkhiwala and Professor Chandrachud."

According to Fali Nariman, Mr. Desai's entire legal career shows that it is not enough merely to know your law but important to know many things outside the law as well.