Guna Vasantha Pai was a Senior Advocate of the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

and

Indian Supreme Court The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial authority and the highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also has the power of judicial review. The Supreme Cour ...

, a

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

, activist and a member of the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

(MLC). He is best known for filing one of the first

public interest litigations Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms ( ''pro bono publico''), often in the fields ...

against the then sitting Chief Justice of the Madras High court S. Ramachandra Iyer after Pai found evidence that the judge had forged his date of birth to avoid compulsory retirement at the age of 60 and the judge's younger brother sent invitations to celebrate his 60th birthday. This led the then

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (CJI) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the President of India to appoint, as recommended by the outg ...

P. B. Gajendragadkar Pralhad Balacharya Gajendragadkar (16 March 1901 – 12 June 1981) was the 7th Chief Justice of India, serving from February 1964 to March 1966. Early life and career Prahlad Balacharya Gajendragadkar was born into Deshastha Madhva Brah ...

to ask Ramachandra Iyer to resign as the case would severely damage the judiciary and he resigned before the case came up for hearing. This led the case to be dismissed as he had resigned. He was elected to the

and he refused to take oath from the then pro-tem chairman, Abdul Wahab as he had advocated secession and swore himself as a legislator. His oath was upheld by the

Early life

At a young age, Vasantha Pai joined public life. He actively participated in India's freedom struggle as a response to

Mahatma Mahātmā (English pronunciation: , , ) is an honorific used in India. The term is commonly used for Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who is often referred to simply as "Mahatma Gandhi". Albeit less frequently, this epithet has also been used wit ...

’s call. Pai enrolled as a student of the

Madras Law College Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, commonly known by its former name Madras Law College, is a law school, located in Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), ...

. With lot of struggles, he obtained his law degree. Later Pai got his early practical training from his father, Guna Pai, who was a famous commercial lawyer in

Ernakulam, Kerala Ernakulam (; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'') is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, and takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part of the state, spans an area of about , and ...

. Pai moved to

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

in the 1950s and started his legal practice. During the same time, the Indian High Courts began in exploring their new constitutional powers under the writ jurisdiction. Vasantha Pai specialized in election law issues and corporate matters and became a well-known authority on these legal subjects.

References

Year of birth missing 2009 deaths Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council {{India-law-bio-stub