M. C. Chagla

Mahommedali Currim Chagla rose from legal practice in Bombay to the leadership of its High Court before entering diplomacy. Born in 1900, he studied modern history at Oxford, was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1922, and taught constitutional law at Government Law College. He became a High Court judge in 1941 and its first permanent Indian chief justice after independence. ¹

Chagla's judicial career included the inquiry into the Life Insurance Corporation's investment in companies associated with Haridas Mundhra and service as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice. He left the Bombay High Court in October 1958 and became ambassador to the United States, later serving as high commissioner in Britain. ^{1, 2}

In Washington, Chagla challenged the consequences of American military assistance to Pakistan. At an August 1959 meeting with Secretary of State Christian Herter, he distinguished Washington's stated intentions from India's concern that Pakistan would use the assistance for other purposes. He questioned what a reduction in Indian armaments would mean for American aid to Pakistan. ³

Chagla subsequently served as education minister and external affairs minister. He supported retaining a role for English in higher education and resigned from the cabinet in 1967 over its language policy. Returning to legal practice, he opposed the supersession of senior Supreme Court judges in 1973 and spoke against the Emergency imposed in 1975. His autobiography, Roses in December, described both his legal and public careers; he died in 1981. ²