MR Pai paid a heartfelt tribute to Nani Palkhivala through his book titled “The Legend of Nani Palkhivala”, published in 2002. The book is an attempt to record Palkhivala’s great achievements, from the vantage of a close associate who was part of his public life for over four decades since 1957.
While Nani Palkhivala is known to be a legendary figure, there are fewer sources that document major events of his lifetime. This book fills that gap.
Nani Palkhivala’s belief in principles of freedom was unshakable. He was a prolific writer who expressed these ideas in a clear way. An excerpt from one of the chapters called “Public Education through Publications”, reproduced below, contains MR Pai’s recollection of Nani Palkhivala’s writing repository, the impact of his written works, and tales of various individuals involved in their publication.
Everyone concerned with taxation is familiar with the book The Law and Practice of Income-Tax by Kanga and Palkhivala. It is the standard reference book on Taxation. Even income tax authorities respect its authoritative contents. Chief Justice M.C. Chagla referred to it as “The Book”.
Once I had to meet an income tax officer with regard to an assessment of a Trust as a trustee. He said, “Mr. Pai, I know that the Chairman of your Trust is none other than India’s leading income tax authority, Mr. Nani Palkhivala. According to his standard book of reference, what you are saying is right. I also agree with him personally. But my department takes a different view.”
When I reported the matter to Palkhivala, in his typically pragmatic manner he said: “Pay the small amount, but with a letter saying that the assessment is unjustified. However, in order to avoid litigation involving a great deal of wastage of time and money of a public charitable trust, which could be fruitfully used for promoting its objective, the amount is paid under protest.”
While Palkhivala’s classic on the law and practice of taxation was popular in corporate and tax circles at all levels, his enormous contribution to public education through the written word deserves great appreciation. He has left for future generations a legacy of noble thoughts. It is noteworthy that he did not derive any personal monetary benefit from these public service publications.
The first such work which literally shook the Establishment and opened the eyes of the educated was his Highest Taxed Nation. By citing facts and figures he demonstrated that India was the highest taxed nation, and that hurt not only taxpayers, but also the economic development of the country because it destroyed individual initiative and enterprise. His theme was that by raising taxation to such high levels, the honest rich were being destroyed while the dishonest were being encouraged. He pointed out that when the tax rate reached 97.5 per cent, human nature asserted itself because it was easier to conceal thirty Rupees rather than earn one thousand Rupees and pay the Government nine hundred and seventy five Rupees. The book was like a bombshell. As one of his great critics, an economist from London School of Economics, who propagated the idea of heavy taxation, wrote: “The most conservative of all Government departments was made to change its thinking as a result of this book”. For sceptics, this book is an illustration of the power of ideas to change the hard realities of life. Neither the Government, nor the socialist apologists could refute either the facts or arguments in this book.
A book which literally shook the establishment was Our Constitution — Defaced and Defiled. First published in December 1974 by Macmillans, it went into several editions. The theme of the book as stated in the Introduction was “1947 and 1973 are the key dates in India’s twentieth century history. The first marked the end of the struggle for winning freedom. The second saw the beginning of the struggle for preservation of freedom… Politicians have been able to get away with virtual destruction of our fundamental rights simply because of the ignorance and apathy of the people… Freedom cannot be inherited in the bloodstream. Each generation will have to defend it and fight for it — then alone will it survive to be passed on to the next.”
The book is a scholarly review of basic human rights, Rule of Law, and the power of the judiciary. Parliament’s power to amend the constitution, what had happened to India’s noble constitution, and how in the Fundamental Rights case the law of the land was finally laid down. Whenever Palkhivala addressed a meeting after its publication hundreds of copies were eagerly snatched by the audience as the book had been modestly priced, only to cover the cost of production and distribution. As with his other books, Palkhivala did not derive any monetary benefit, and M.G. Wasani of Macmillans considered it a privilege to serve this great cause by pricing it nominally.
Exactly a decade afterwards appeared another magnificent book, a compilation of selected articles by Palkhivala under the title We, the People. The genesis of this book is interesting. For years, I had been urging him to write the story of his life, a proposition he did not accept. It was suggested that as he was reluctant to write an autobiography, he should at least record the major cases he had fought. Even this he would not agree to. His view was that he would have to reveal many things about several persons on the Bench, Bar and the Government and he had no desire to hurt anyone. He was not willing to write at all unless it was the truth as he saw it. Palkhivala did not agree even to write it for posthumous publication. Such was his concern for truth on the one hand, and adherence to his principle in life of not hurting anyone by telling the truth. While rejecting the pleas for an autobiography or a book on historic cases he had fought, Palkhivala agreed for a compilation of his important works. The result was a magnificent compilation, We, the People, which any publisher would have been glad to publish. It was, however, published and0 marketed by a non-conventional publisher, a bookseller who out of his regard and admiration of Palkhivala broke his rule of not going into publishing line, Strand Book Stall of Bombay.
The book was a bestseller from the time it hit the markets, and ran into several reprints. The introduction and a personal note of this book is noteworthy. For the first time, Palkhivala wrote something about himself — his belief in destiny, and his eternal gratitude to his parents. The last
paragraph of his personal note was touching: “I can hope for no greater reward than that young readers with their life before them may find in this volume something to inspire them with an earnest and unflagging zeal for renewing the youth of the State.”
Exactly after a decade, he published another book, a sort of companion volume, under the title We the Nation — the Lost Decades. It was a collection of his articles on various subjects — with comments on great Indians like Dadabhai Naoroji to political subjects like dismissal of a Governor, to budgets and musings on life. It showed the vast range of Palkhivala’s reading, and considered views on men and matters. Published by UBS Publishers’ Distributors Ltd., in 1994, this book was also lapped up by the readers. By this time, Palkhivala commanded a big following of intellectuals as also common people.
The unabridged version of the book chapter can be found here.
