Lily Thomas

Lily Thomas (1927 – 10 December 2019)[3] was an Indian lawyer who initiated improvement and change to existing laws by filing petitions in India's highest court and regional courts.[4][5] Thomas' petitions resulted in changes to laws to prevent convicted politicians getting elected,[6] the addition of a new marriage law[7] and protections for parliamentarians.[8] Thomas was hailed most notably for petitioning to amend the Representation of the People Act.[9][10]

Lily Thomas
Born
Lily Isabel Thomas[1][2]

1927
Kottayam, Travancore Kingdom, Princely State (presently in State of Kerala)
Died10 December 2019(2019-12-10) (aged 91–92)
NationalityIndian
Alma materMadras University
OccupationLawyer
Known forCo-petitioner in Representation of the People Act case

Early life

Lily hailed from Kottayam and grew up in Trivandrum. She had joined Madras High Court in 1955,[11] under which she studied the LLM course which was completed in 1959.[12] Thomas belongs to the first generation of women lawyers in India and she was the first woman to complete the LLM course from Madras University.[13]

After obtaining a law degree from Madras University, she started her practice in the Madras High Court. She was the first lady in India to qualify for an LLM degree.[14] In 1960, she moved to Delhi to do a Ph.D but discovered that she was not really cut out for academia. "I realised that I was not competent to do research," she admitted, "so I started practising in the Supreme Court".[14]

Career

Thomas had joined the Supreme Court in 1960.[12] She dropped out of doctorate in law after coming to Delhi and started working where her brother John Thomas was already practising.[13] Lily filed petitions since 1964 on different issues such as the validity of 'Advocate-on-Record Examination',[13] sorting out issues of railway employees and case on conversion to Islam for the express purpose of entering into a second marriage in 2000.[11][12] Thomas worked on constitutional law, women’s rights and issues of personal liberty.[15] Lily was an advocate in 'OLD LAWYERS CHAMBERS BLOCKS'.[16]

In 2013, at the age of 85, she won a landmark judgement under which members of India's Parliament and members of state legislative bodies, convicted of a crime or in jail, became ineligible to run for elections or hold an elected seat. Prior to this judgment, members of Parliament who were convicted but had filed an appeal could go about their regular business, including being elected and holding seats.

Lily Thomas, along with advocate Satya Narain Shukla had filed a Writ petition in the apex court in 2005, challenging a provision of the Representation of the People Act which protects convicted lawmakers against disqualification on the grounds of pendency of appeal against their conviction in the higher courts. On 10 July 2013, a bench of justices A K Patnaik and S J Mukhopadhaya held that, "The only question is about the vires of section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951 and we hold that it is ultra vires and that the disqualification takes place from the date of conviction."[17]

Validity of "Advocate on Record" system
Further information: Advocate-on-Record and Three Judges Cases

Lily was one of the first lawyers to file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the 'Advocate on Record' system on 14 January 1964.[12][18] Under this system, only those advocates who have passed the AOR exam are eligible to file petitions.[19] Lily believed that 'Section 30' under Part IV of the Advocates Act mentions that all advocates have the right to practise in all courts including the Supreme Court in India and no restriction should be imposed for passing an exam and 'Section 16' differentiates lawyers into Advocates and Senior Advocates.[20] The issue of AOR was challenged and debated multiple times,[21][22][23] on 16 October 2015 the Supreme Court struck down NJAC meant to replace the AOR, as unconstitutional and upheld the collegium system.[24]

Petition on Stopping Conversion for Bigamy

Lily had filed the petition in the Supreme Court on status of the earlier marriage regarding a case when a non-Muslim gets converted to the 'Muslim' faith without any real change or belief without divorcing first wife.[25] The Court after hearing similar petitions declared the practice of remarrying as null and void unless the first marriage is dissolved.[26] The Law Commission send the recommendation to the Law Ministry amending Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to stop the illegal practice.[27][28]

Striking down Representation of the People Act
Further information: Disqualification of convicted representatives in India

Lily along with Lucknow-based NGO Lok Prahari[29] were the petitioners in the case when the Supreme Court had struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to disqualify a legislator immediately when convicted for two or more years' prison.[30][31][32] When the UPA government had prepared an ordinance to nullify the judgment,[33][34] Thomas made a review petition against the ordinance, the government had later withdrawn the ordinance route after severe criticism.[35][36] She had got help from other experts, including Fali Nariman in the case.[11] Lily's petition was accepted the third time after successive rejections.[12] The law had far reaching effect when influential politicians such as then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa,[11][37][38] Rasheed Masood[39] and Lalu Prasad were disqualified.[40] The judgement is largely seen to cleanse politics from criminalization.[41]

Other notable cases
  • Lily Thomas vs State Of Tamil Nadu.[42]
  • Lily Thomas (Ms), Advocate vs Speaker, Lok Sabha And Ors.[43]
  • Ms. Lily Thomas vs State Of Maharashtra And Ors.[44]
  • Lily Thomas vs Union Of India (Uoi).[45]

Personal life

Lily believed it is the responsibility of the lawyers to fight through petitions to improve the existing laws[46] and having criminals as politicians is an insult to the parliamentary system.[47] Thomas considered her father a hero. At an old age she went to the court every day and worked for 8–10 hours. Lily preferred reading Mills and Boon and having knowledge of Bible and Vishnu Sahasranam.[11] She was a practising Syrian Christian.[48]

References
  1. "LIST OF BUSINESS FOR MONDAY THE 10th JUNE, 2013" (PDF). SUPREME COURT OF INDIA. 10 June 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  2. "ADVOCATE-ON-RECORD COMPUTER CODE" (PDF). SUPREME COURT OF INDIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2014.
  3. LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK (10 December 2019). "Adv Lily Thomas, Senior Most Woman Lawyer Of SC, Passes Away". livelaw.in. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  4. "Disqualification issues". FRONTLINE. 17 October 2014.
  5. "Lily Thomas vs State Of Tamil Nadu". INDIANKANOON. 23 August 1984.
  6. "Conviction will attract instant disqualification: legal experts". THE HINDU. 23 September 2014.
  7. "SC notice to Centre in polygamy case". THE HINDU. 28 July 2001.
  8. "Moved by Speaker's plight, advocate seeks protection for him". The Times of India. 25 October 2008.
  9. "MPs, MLAs will be disqualified from date of conviction: SC". ZEENEWS. 10 July 2013.
  10. "The Court does not have the power to subject Advocates to AOR exam – Conversation with Advocate Lily Thomas". LIVE LAW .IN. 15 July 2013.
  11. "Meet Lily Thomas the lady behind clipping of wings of convicted politicians". The Times of India. 1 October 2014.
  12. "Lily Thomas vs the Union of India". millenniumpost. 6 April 2014. Archived from the original on 9 November 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  13. "Lily Thomas vs the Union of India". GOVERNANCE NOW. 4 April 2014.
  14. Saluja, Pallavi (17 July 2013). "'To have criminals as politicians is an insult to our parliamentary system'– Lily Thomas". Bar & Bench. barandbench.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  15. "The judgment will create awareness". FRONTLINE. 9 August 2013.
  16. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. "MPs, MLAs will be disqualified on date of conviction: SC". The New Indian Express. RPG Group, India. 13 July 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  18. "Lily Isabel Thomas vs Unknown". INDIANKANOON. 14 January 1964.
  19. "Supreme Court to examine legality of AOR system". THE HINDU. 25 August 2012.
  20. "The Court does not have the power to subject Advocates to AOR exam – Conversation with Advocate Lily Thomas". LIVE LAW .IN. 15 July 2013.
  21. "SC notice on categorising advocates". The New Indian Express. 24 February 2013.
  22. "Petition lawyer case at SC door". THE TELEGRAPH. 27 February 2013.
  23. "Advocate-on-record system turning into a scam, says SC". The Times of India. 23 August 2013.
  24. "Supreme Court strikes down NJAC Act; collegium system of appointing judges to continue". ZEE NEWS. 16 October 2015.
  25. "Lily Thomas, Etc. Etc. vs Union Of India & Ors". INDIANKANOON. 5 April 2000.
  26. "Objection Sustained". OUTLOOK. 22 July 2013.
  27. "Preventing Bigamy via Conversion to Islam – A Proposal for giving Statutory Effect to Supreme Court Rulings" (PDF). LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA.
  28. "Law needed to stop men from converting for bigamy". The Times of India. 6 August 2009.
  29. "SC judgement on MPs, MLAs: Who are the petitioners Lok Prahari?". FIRSTPOST INDIA. 10 July 2013.
  30. "CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 490 OF 2005". SUPREME COURT OF INDIA.
  31. "Supreme Court: MPs, MLAs to be disqualified as soon as they are convicted". The Indian Express. 10 July 2013.
  32. "MPs, MLAs to be disqualified on date of criminal conviction". THE HINDU. 10 July 2013.
  33. "Bill for no immediate disqualification of convicted MPs, MLAs". The New Indian Express. 30 August 2013.
  34. "Cabinet clears Ordinance to bypass Supreme Court order against convicted lawmakers". THE TELEGRAPH. 24 September 2013.
  35. "Govt withdraws ordinance, Bill on lawmakers". THE TRIBUNE. 2 October 2013.
  36. "Cabinet 'unanimously' withdraws ordinance on convicted lawmakers". NDTV. 3 October 2013.
  37. "Jayalalithaa sentenced to four years in jail, fined Rs. 100 crore". THE HINDU. 27 September 2014.
  38. "O Panneerselvam takes oath as Tamil Nadu's 28th Chief Minister". India Today. 29 September 2014.
  39. "Convicted Congress MP Rasheed Masood disqualified from Rajya Sabha". The Times of India. 21 October 2013.
  40. "Fodder scam: Lalu Yadav, Jagdish Sharma disqualified from Lok Sabha". ZEE NEWS. 22 October 2013.
  41. "Activist verdicts". FRONTLINE. 1 November 2013.
  42. "Lily Thomas vs State Of Tamil Nadu". INDIANKANOON. 4 July 1985.
  43. "Lily Thomas (Ms), Advocate vs Speaker, Lok Sabha And Ors". INDIANKANOON. 24 August 1993.
  44. "Ms. Lily Thomas vs State Of Maharashtra And Ors". INDIANKANOON. 28 April 2005.
  45. "Lily Thomas vs Union Of India (Uoi)". INDIANKANOON. 26 September 2007.
  46. "लिली थॉमस: उम्र 85 फिर भी डाली हर नेता की जान सांसत में". INEXT LIVE. 16 July 2013.
  47. ""To have criminals as politicians is an insult to our parliamentary system"-Lily Thomas". Bar & Bench. 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014.
  48. "Legal eagle who launched crusade against 'tainted' legislators". Business Standard. 13 July 2013.
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