Harish Salve is an Indian lawyer and senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He is known for his expertise in constitutional, commercial and taxation laws. He represented India in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kalbhushan Jadhav case in 2017.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Harish Salve was born on Wednesday, 22 June 1955 (age 68 years; as in 2023) in Warud, Dhule district, Maharashtra. He did his schooling from St. Francis de Sales High School, Nagpur. He studied Chartered Accountancy from ICAI and LLB from Nagpur University.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 8″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye colour: black
Family
Harish Salve belongs to a Marathi family.
parents and siblings
His father, NKP Salve, was a chartered accountant and a notable politician in the Indian National Congress.
NKP Salve, father of Harish Salve
His mother Ambriti Salve was a doctor. He has a sister named Aruna Upadhyay.
Harish Salve’s sister Aruna Upadhyay
wife and children
Meenakshi Salve
Harish Salve married Meenakshi Salve in 1982. They have two daughters named Sakshi and Sania. After 38 years of their marriage, the couple separated in June 2020.
Harish Salve with his daughter and Meenakshi Salve (right)
Caroline Brossard
On 28 October 2020, Harish Salve married a London-based artist named Caroline Brossard for the second time. They met each other at an art event.
A picture from Harish Salve’s second marriage
Trina
On 3 September 2023, he married Trina in London. This was his third marriage. Their wedding ceremony was attended by many notable personalities like Nita Ambani and Lalit Modi.
A picture from Harish Salve’s third marriage
other relatives
His grandfather, PK Salve, was a highly accomplished criminal lawyer. His great-grandfather was a subordinate judge (called a Munsif).
religion/religious views
In an interview, he revealed that he grew up with liberal secularism at his home.
livelihood
Harish Salve started his law career in 1980 as a trainee at JB Dadachandji & Company, based in Delhi. Later, he started working with the firm as a full-time lawyer. While working there, he assisted the famous Indian lawyer Nani Palkhiwala in the Minerva Mills case. Later, the Delhi High Court appointed him as Senior Advocate. From 1980 to 1986, Harish Salve worked with former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee.
An image of Soli Sorabjee
On 1 November 1999, he was appointed as the Solicitor General of India and held the post until 3 November 2002. After the expiry of his initial three-year term in 2002, the Government of India offered to nominate him for a second three-year term which he declined citing “personal reasons”. In his role as the legal representative of the Union of India, Harish Salve handled several important cases, such as the first anti-dumping case heard in the Supreme Court and the first privatization case involving a PSU known as the BALCO case. .
Harish Salve during the hearing of a case
The Supreme Court has appointed Salve as amicus curiae in several cases, primarily dealing with environmental protection. However, he stepped down from this role in 2011 during a hearing regarding illegal mining because he had previously represented one or more of the parties involved. In 2013, Salve became a member of the English Bar and then joined Blackstone Chambers. Harish Salve was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel for the courts of England and Wales on 16 January 2020.
famous cases
vodafone case
Harish Salve represented Vodafone in a $2.5 billion tax dispute against the Indian government in 2012. Initially, he lost the case in the Bombay High Court. However, he later won the case in the Supreme Court. He was temporarily transferred to London and moved his office there to concentrate fully on the case. He strongly criticized the Government of India for making retrospective changes to the income tax law in the 2012 Union Budget, which overruled the Supreme Court decision.
bilkis bano case
In 2003, Harish Salve represented Gujarat riots survivor Bilkis Bano under the direction of the National Human Rights Commission. Salve asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to start a fresh investigation into the case. Later he talked about conducting the trial in Mumbai instead of Gujarat. This was the only case in the Gujarat riots which was investigated afresh by the CBI.
salman khan case
In 2015, he represented Bollywood actor Salman Khan in a 2002 hit-and-run accident case. Earlier, Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in jail for the car accident that killed one person and injured four others. During the trial, another Mumbai-based lawyer, Amit Desai, took over the case for a short time. However, the Bombay High Court later suspended the judgment given by the lower court. On 10 December 2015, Salman Khan was acquitted of all charges related to the 2002 car accident and drunk driving.
Kulbhushan Jadhav Case
In May 2017, he served as India’s representative at the International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage. With strong arguments from Salve, the International Court of Justice granted a temporary stay on Jadhav’s execution until a final decision was reached. Furthermore, Salve has charged only Rs 1 as legal fees for his services in the case.
Harish Salve (left) receiving Rs 1 from Bansuri Swaraj
other matters
Harish Salve has represented various large corporations including Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited, Tata Group and ITC. He has also appeared for Mukesh Ambani in the Krishna Godavari Basin gas dispute case. He has also personally represented Ratan Tata in various legal matters. In 2011, he provided legal defense for Keshub Mahindra in the Bhopal gas tragedy case and represented Delhi Police in the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev’s supporters. He has also represented the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case as defense counsel.
controversies
CJP asked the question
In 2009, a civil rights group called Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) questioned the suitability of Harish Salve as amicus curiae in the Gujarat riots case. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) representative Kamini Jaiswal accused Salve of not properly investigating the complaints filed by the CJP. Due to these allegations, retired Supreme Court judge PB Sawant had also expressed concern over the appointment of Salve as amicus curiae in the Gujarat riots case.
accused of lobbying
In 2011, Harish Salve was accused of supporting Eros Energy in setting up a 25 MW power plant in Gujarat. The allegation came to light after Tehelka magazine, in an article, exposed email communications involving Eros Energy’s Kishore Lulla, Harish Salve and high-ranking officials of the Gujarat government. In an interview with Ashish Khaitan, Salve admitted that the facts mentioned in the article were true. However, he ruled out any possibility of quid pro quo as amicus curiae. Talking about this in an interview he said,
I am appearing against the misdeeds of Narendra Modi and his government. I am not coming against Gujarat. If a project is good for Gujarat, I will again direct it towards Gujarat. If you show that I have earned even one rupee from this, I will leave this profession.”
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 2015 he was honored with the Padma Bhushan award.
- In 2017, he was ranked 43rd in the list of ‘India’s 50 Most Powerful People’ by India Today magazine.
fees
According to some reports, Harish Salve charges up to Rs 30 lakh as his daily fee.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Harish Salve and former Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde were classmates in school.
- Before pursuing a career in law, Salve worked as a chartered accountant specializing in taxation.
- Harish Salve wanted to become an engineer when he was a child; However, as he grew up, he became more interested in chartered accountancy as his father was also pursuing the same profession. Later, his father focused his attention only on income tax matters, which brought him in contact with Nani Palkhiwala.
- When Salve was a young boy, he initially wanted to become an engineer. However, as he grew up, he became more interested in chartered accountancy as his father was deeply involved in it. His father’s focus became focused on income tax matters, which brought him into contact with Nani Palkhiwala, who handled various legal matters for Salve’s father. This performance inspired Harish Salve a lot. He found income tax matters more interesting than accountancy, so he decided to pursue it as a lawyer.
- Harish Salve had rejected the offer to become Attorney General during the Vajpayee government when J. Sorabjee wanted to step down after completing three years as Attorney General. He rejected the offer for the second time in 2017 when he was Modi’s first choice for the post. Modi also postponed the announcement of his choice for this post.
- In 2021, he appealed to the Supreme Court to remove him from the post of amicus curiae, appointed to assist the court in suo motu proceedings related to the government’s management of the COVID-19 crisis in India I went. In an interview, he said that he wanted to recuse himself due to concerns being raised over his close ties with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde. He said,
I do not want this case to be decided under the shadow that I know the CJI from school and college days.
- He likes playing the piano and driving a Bentley.
- He is a good friend of media baron Subhash Chandra and Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn