Justice for Nariman

"Fali Sam Nariman, president of the Bar Association of India, has been an exemplary and principled advocate for justice,” noted the citation accompanying the 2002 Justice Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation which was conferred on him in September 2002. Presently member of the Rajya Sabha and senior advocate, Supreme Court of India, Nariman has "over many years given exceptional leadership in a legal community whose thinkers and doers have inspired the development of a creative jurisprudence that facilitates the binding together of a diverse nation, helps control the exercise of public power and seeks to enable the poor, minorities and the marginalized to claim their basic rights to human dignity,” added the citation.

This annual award which carries a cash prize of US $ 150,000 and a gold medal is "among the highest recognition in (the) realm (of) justice,” mentions a press release. Instituted by the Foundation two years ago, the awards in the three fields of cosmology, genetics and justice recognize "human discoveries and contributions that effect fundamental shifts in human knowledge and culture,” notes an introduction to the Foundation.

The first Justice Prize from this Foundation was presented last year to Anthony Gubbay, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Law Society of Zimbabwe. The advisory board which selects the recipients on the basis of nominations received has an international panel of eminent jurists from Morocco, France, Canada, USA, India, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Established in 1993 and funded entirely by Gruber, the Foundation funds social service organizations in the US Virgin Islands, establishes scholarship programs and other projects focusing on youth and education, and contributes to community foundations. The Foundation also sponsors the importation of cultural programs to the Virgin Islands and underwrites local cultural initiatives, conveys its website: www.petergruberfoun­dation.org/justice/justice_news.htm

Nariman with the gold medal (above)

"Nariman stands out as a leader promoting the universal rule of law in a modern era of emerging democracies and supportive systems of jurispru­dence...He has played an important role in both establishing and enforcing the law in India,” conveyed the website which has also posted his bio data. Vice chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, Nariman is currently honorary chairman of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration after serving as its president for eight years. He is also a member of the London Court of International Arbitration. Former president of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA), he had served as founder-chairman of the LAWASIA stand­ing committee on human rights and chairman of the executive committee of the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva.

As Member of Parliament he has been nominated by the chairman of the Rajya Sabha to the Parliamentary committee on rules, committee of privileges, ethics committee and to the consultative committee for the ministry of external affairs. In 1995 the International Bar Association headquarters in London named him the "Living Legend of the Law.”