SKOCH India Law Award

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Senior Advocate and Member, Rajya Sabha

SKOCH India Law Award

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Senior Advocate and Member, Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, 14th May 2022

Abhishek Singhvi is an eminent jurist, writer and parliamentarian. He is also the youngest designated Senior Advocate – at the age of thirty-four; the youngest Additional Solicitor General of India – at thirty-seven; and, the youngest elected vice president of the Supreme Court Bar Association – at thirty-nine.

From 1997 to 98, he was Additional Solicitor General of India. He was chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Law and the AICC Law and Human Rights Department. He was a member in the Committee of Privileges from 2006 to 2010. From August 2009 to July 2011, he served as the Member of the Committee on Personnel in Public Grievances, Law and Justice Department.

He chaired the 30-member parliamentary panel that presented its voluminous report on the Lokpal Bill 2011. The Report discussed and reported on over 24 issues and reflected an overwhelming consensus on almost all of them.

L to R: Rohan Kochhar, SKOCH Development Foundation; Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Senior Advocate and Member, Rajya Sabha; Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group

He has pledged Rs 2 crore to establish The Singhvi Trinity Scholarship at Cambridge, to focus exclusively on Indian students desirous of pursuing LLM.

Acceptance Speech, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Senior Advocate and Member, Rajya Sabha

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Senior Advocate and Member, Rajya Sabha

Abhishek Singhviis an eminent jurist, writer and parliamentarian. One of the senior most national spokespersons of the Congress party, he is also the youngest designated Senior Advocate (at age thirty-four), the youngest Additional Solicitor General of India (at thirty-seven) and the youngest elected vice president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (at thirty-nine). He was chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Law and the AICC Law and Human Rights Department.

He was bestowed the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award by the World Economic Forum, Davos in 1999 He has written popular fortnightly columns for the Hindustan Times (Candid Corner”) and the Times of India (‘SubVerse”).

Educated at St Columba’s School (all-India topper) and St Stephen’s College in Delhi, and Trinity College, Cambridge, he also did a short summer programme at Harvard.

Two recent publications, Legal Eagles and Courting Politics, list Dr Singhvi among the top few lawyers in India. He has endowed many charities in India and abroad.

SKOCH India Law Award

SKOCH Award, independently instituted in 2003, is India’s honest civilian honour conferred by an independent organisation as a third party assessment. It is the only award in the country that is based on feltneeds assessment and outcome evaluation based on evidence. It therefore, recognises people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.

SKOCH Award covers the best of efforts in the area of digital, financial and social inclusion. It encompasses the best of governance, inclusive growth, excellence in technology and applications, change management, corporate leadership, corporate governance, citizen service delivery, capacity building, empowerment and other such softer issues that get normally lost in the glamour and glitz of industry sponsored or advertising focused jamborees.

The SKOCH Award not only acknowledges exceptional achievers – organisations and individuals – but also spurs institutional guidance and best practices in the industry.

SKOCH Literature Award

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Senior Advocate and Member, Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, 14th May 2022

The author says that the judiciary is an important pillar of democracy. He also sheds light on the real issues that the judiciary is facing and other aspects that also need to be looked at. Written in an erudite tone, it is an insightful account into the leading cases he has dealt with in his excellent career as one of the top lawyers of the Supreme Court. From the Trenches comments on constitutional morality, specifically regarding the Sabrimala Case arguing against the right of women to worship there.

Further, Singhvi maintains that the judicial approach to Constitutional Morality could vary from Judge to Judge like the proverbial “Chancellor’s Foot”. Not many would ponder today about the legal battles it took for commercial speech to be read as protected under the Right to Freedom of Speech, or that the flag code prevented ordinary citizens to unfurl the national flag until a passionate citizen knocked the doors of the apex court to challenge the status quo. Religious issues that reached the apex Court like the practice of Santhara, Sabarimala issue and Jallikattu have been discussed too. The book is an interesting read for anyone taking interest in legal and constitutional developments in India.

L to R: Avishkar Singhvi Recieves award on behalf of Abhishek Manu Singhvi; Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group

SKOCH Literature Award - "From The Trenches - Abhishek Manu Singhvi”

LITFest Panel Discussion - "From The Trenches – Abhishek Manu Singhvi”

Book: From The Trenches – Abhishek Manu Singhvi”

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Abhishek Singhvi is one of India’s top lawyers, a man who has fought some of the country’s most important – and dramatic – legal battles. In this fascinating book, he talks about the most important cases he fought – and the bigger questions of law and justice they pose. From the Sabarimala temple case (he argued against the right of women to worship there) to Cyrus Mistry against Tata Sons, the cases in this book touch on issues of free speech, custodial torture, the right to fly the Indian flag, animal rights and state elections. Simply written for the general reader and full of insights, From the Trenches is a book by a legendary lawyer that will both entertain and teach you about law and the judiciary