Debi Prasad Pal (1 November 1927 – 14 May 2021) was a Senior Advocate practicing in the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

and

High Courts of India The high courts of India are the highest courts of appellate jurisdiction in each state and union territory of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependenci ...

. He was a former Minister of State for Finance, a former

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. T ...

and a three-time former Member of Parliament (MP) in

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

Early life and education

Debi Prasad Pal was born in 1927 in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. His father was noted scholar and educationist Aswini Kumar Pal and mother was Sarala Bala Pal. He did his bachelor's studies in Presidency College and got his M.A. degree from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. He was awarded the prestigious

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

(D.Litt.) degree soon after that for his outstanding contribution to English literature. He got his

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(LL.D.) degree in 1961 for his seminal work. He stood first throughout his academic career. He is the son-in-law of Justice Radhabinod Pal, who was an International Judge.

Legal career

Dr. Pal started practicing in the Calcutta High Court in 1959. He was thereafter appointed a justice in the High Court but resigned within 6 months to rejoin private practice.

Political career

He started his political journey as a member of the Congress party. He contested the Lok Sabha election for the first time in 1989. He was selected by the Congress (I) for the Calcutta North-West parliamentary constituency. He beat his political and legal guru

Ashoke Kumar Sen Ashoke Kumar Sen (10 October 1913 – 21 September 1996) was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian. He also holds the record for winning a Lok Sabha seat the most times and also the record for b ...

by a huge margin. He was chosen to be the Union Minister of State for Finance by the then Prime Minister of India

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian independence activist, lawyer, and statesman from the Indian National Congress who served as the prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first p ...

. He worked with Finance Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

, the former Prime Minister of India. He was also elected for the Lok Sabha in the years 1991 and 1996. He briefly joined

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

after getting an invitation from its leader

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 2 ...

but eventually came back to the Congress.

Union Minister of Finance

He was the Union Minister of State for Finance in the Narasimha Rao Government from 1995 - 1996. He was also a member of The Tenth Finance Commission of India.

Philanthropy

Dr. Pal is well known for his charity work. He was one of the founding members of Cancer Foundation of India.

Senior Advocate

He practiced in the

and

. He is considered to be one of the fine lawyers of India in taxation matters. He was one of the highest paid lawyers and was one of the highest income-tax payers in India.

Member of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission

Dr. Pal has been recently appointed a member of the newly constituted Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC). The Commission is headed by retired Justice B. N. Srikrishna.Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pal, Debi Prasad 1927 births 2021 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Bengali politicians 20th-century Indian economists 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 Members of the Cabinet of India University of Calcutta alumni Judges of the Calcutta High Court Lok Sabha members from West Bengal Politicians from Kolkata Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal