Prof. Ravivarma Kumar
Managing Trustee
Lawyers’ Forum for Social Justice
And former Advocate General for Karnataka
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Right from the days of Champakam Dorairajan (1951) when a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court struck down a decade old reservation policy in Madras State educational institutions ,for the advocates of social justice it had become an unpopular cause . Another Constitution Bench Judgment which gave a death blow to the reservations to backward classes in the State of Mysore (M.R. Balaji, 1962) reinforced this position. Only lawyers with conviction, that too from South India, had to travel all the way to Delhi to take up such causes. I recollect a case in which Late Mr. L.G. Havanur, my good and noble Senior, went to Delhi at his own expenditure and made an unsuccessful attempt to intervene on this issue. It is at this critical state Late Sri. Annam Subba Rao arrived on the scene and took up the cause of backward classes, SC’s and ST’s in a big way. Whether his services were remunerated or not he was willing to take up these causes and pursue them with all seriousness.
I had the first opportunity to interact with him during the arguments in K.C. Vasanth Kumar, where I was defending the Havanur Report, hailed as the Bible of Backward Classes (1985). He impressed me by his courage of conviction in espousing the cause of social justice. In Mandal Case (1992) we worked together. With this judgment, reservation to OBCs in services under the Union became a reality and the historic decision of the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh stood vindicated.In Ashok Kumar Thakur case (2008) he ably assisted Mr. K. Parasaran, former Attorney General. We worked together and successfully defended the Mandal Report in its implementation, through the 93rd Amendment to the Constitution of India and the Central Educational Institution (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. That is how the OBC reservation in IIMS, IITs and Central Universities became a reality, a decision piloted by the then Union HRD Minister Sri. Arjun Singh.
After our success in persuading African National Congress to provide for Affirmative Action at all levels including the Constitutional Court of South Africa we deemed it necessary to embark on a crusade to do so in India. Annam Subba Rao at Delhi, Justice Y.S.A. Swamy and late Bojja Tharakam at Hyderabad, Dr. K. Veeramani at Chennai, L.G. Havanur and I at Bengaluru promoted a national trust titled, Lawyers’ Forum for Social Justice with twin objectives;
A. Vest the power to select and appoint judges in the Constitutional Courts in an autonomous Commission and provide for due representation of SC’s, ST’s and BC’s in its constitution.
B. Provide reservation in favour of those sections in appointment of judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court of India.
We waged relentless agitation in this behalf, conducted series of national conferences and State Conferences all over the country. As Managing Trustee of the said forum Mr. Annam Subba Rao played a stellar role in mobilising advocates all over the country under the banner of this Trust. This ultimately resulted in the 99th Amendment to the Constitution of India and enactment of the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commissions Act) 2014. With the judgment of the Supreme Court in NJAC case (2016), there is a slight setback to this movement.
Under the able guidance of Dr. K. Veeramani, who has now taken over as the Chairman of the Lawyers’ Forum for Social Justice, we rededicate to espouse these twin causes and ensure due representation to SCs, STs and BCs in the Supreme Court and High Court Benches. That I think would be the best tribute we can pay to Late Sri. Annam Subba Rao. We recognise his leadership in fearlessly championing the cause of Backward Classes and cherish the memory of his immense contribution to hoist the flag of Social Justice, all over.
