Sunday Times 2
A great lawyer, finance minister and dignified gentleman – Appreciation
View(s):- K N Choksy
K N Choksy was once compelled to defend a client in a criminal case (heard in camera in the High Court of Colombo). The indictment — for rape! The accused: a virile and religious philanthropist. Mr Choksy found several eminent senior criminal lawyers to appear, but the client insisted it had to be Mr Choksy and no other!
Some juniors of criminal chambers said the particular client was committing hara-kiri. “How could he compel the dignified Mr Choksy to cross-examine a woman in such circumstances!”
The day and time came to cross-examine the complainant; the first few questions were mild and a formality for the record. The other questions that followed were at times from a concerned father to an aggrieved daughter. At other times they were from a gynaecologist to a patient, seeking the symptoms. The answers, spontaneous and truthful, demolished the prosecution. The complainant was composed and relieved. She smiled at Mr Choksy and frowned at the prosecuting state counsel. There was no case to answer, and the accused was acquitted.
Throughout the discussion of the case, Mr Choksy referred to the complainant as the “Lady”. Never did he refer to her in any derogatory manner. He always thanked the witnesses after he finished. Never look down upon a witness or be biased against a witness, he said. If you do so, you will not see the truth, and even if you torture him, he will not tell the truth. He was a lawyer, master strategist and dignified gentleman.
He checked every link in the chain of an argument and submission for its integrity. Scouted the expanse for authorities, in precedents, and stunningly would happen upon the ‘ratio decidendi’ (the binding finding). The depth of his thinking was an example to us, his juniors.
Once I asked him how many times a brief should be read. In his inimitable fashion, he said, “One more time than the last time.” That remark helped me win many a case. We carried his standard with us.
Over a thousand miles away, in a nation where the sun was said to rise first in the British Empire, I was sworn in as a judge under a portrait of the Queen of England, the head of the Commonwealth.
Though I was allocated chambers in the capital and the other Sri Lankan High Court Judge to the commercial city in the western division, I came to know of the very heavy backlog of cases in that division and my predecessor Justice Finnegan’s observation in one of his judgements of the impossibility of resolving that case backlog. It was the most difficult station, the weakest link in the pulse of justice in that nation. I was by far the most senior in the profession among us. By the Choksy standard, I had to take the most difficult jurisdiction.
At first the Chief Registrar declined to post me to the most difficult division. She said that would be a reversal of my seniority. I sought the reversal of my seniority, and the Chief Registrar complied. When I took that station, any new action instituted that day would have taken 10 long years to touch trial. By the end of two and a half years, the civil backlog stood resolved. I employed case management techniques I developed that I did not get the opportunity to implement in Sri Lanka, my experience, and the Choksy standard of courtesy given and taken in the well of the court and the Bar.
Mr Choksy saw to the progress of his juniors without their knowledge. He seconded me to the Chambers of Sam Kadirgamar QC for a short spell. It was an exceptional experience. The library of the Kadirgamar Chambers was as replete as the Colombo Law Library. The librarian was given the name ‘Chandrika’ and the secretary the name ‘Sunethra’ after the names of two daughters of the world’s first woman prime minister. ‘Chandrika’ could furnish any authority with page and paragraph flagged within minutes! Such was the training at the Kadirgamar Chambers at Queen’s Road.
Though the law is a demanding mistress, Mr Choksy’s expertise was far beyond the legal practice. Finances, the peculiarities of currencies, the stuff that civilisations are made of, were breakfast to him.
When the growth of the economy was measured in the negative and a separatist war was raging, Prabhakaran insisted that he would settle only with a government made of both the major parties. Chandrika Kumaratunga was the incumbent president. The need was for a prime minister and a cabinet of ministers from the UNP. With a general election declared, the need was for the UNP to win the election.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was losing elections consistently till then, and a peaceful election was required for the people to express their view. For that purpose, I was posted next to M H Mohamed at the ‘United Professionals Association,’ of which Mr Wickremesinghe was the patron. Fourteen lawyers, including myself, formed an Ops Room at the election office of Mr Mohamed (a former Speaker). Colombo, especially, and the Western Province were devoid of any election violence or violations during the elections, with the other provinces tagging along.
Mr Choksy accepted the finance portfolio in the Cabinet. His task was daunting. He accomplished the impossible, but the chameleon nature of politicians and politics deprived him of achieving the miracle, the opportunity of raising the economy by a quantum leap.
Otherwise commendable development projects, overcoming a COVID-19 pandemic, maimed by the absence of governance—oversight overlooked—intellectual input, advice, and suggestions ignored, resulted in a spontaneous ‘aragalaya’ (unarmed uprising).
Even a hint of a salary increase results in inflation across the board. A revaluation of the currency could bring down the cost of living and inflation. But given the damage caused so far, nothing short of a dramatic revaluation could make much of a difference. Revaluation of the rupee to equate to the US dollar would be dramatic.
How would Mr Choksy respond? Better get it sanctioned by a referendum or by a 2/3 majority in Parliament, he would say. You will have to remodel the Central Bank. The exporters will get the same US dollar price for their exports. However, they will have to adjust their payment in rupees to their suppliers, employees, and labour. Till the price of supplies and labour gets adjusted, payment in US dollars locally will have to be permitted. Such a revaluation will need to be with sufficient notice for the exporters to remit their parked US dollars overseas before the revaluation, reaping a 300 times conversion to rupees, which after local investment over a given period of time can be encashed to US dollars at a 1:1 conversion ratio.
The substantial remittance in US dollars will appreciate the rupee to sustain the revaluation. The major benefit would be the substantial increase in the buying power of the rupee holders — the Sri Lankan general public — bringing the cost of living down substantially! The debt repayment will resolve by itself. Money does not grow in the vault of the creditor. It grows in the hands of the debtor. Corruption will need to be curtailed swiftly by a revealing amnesty with full disclosure; otherwise, the economy could implode.
To the Choksy standard, ‘service,’ as a professional, a public servant, a politician, or an employee, was a duty, a sacred obligation, limited only by tenure, exhausting effort, or death. It was as deep as one could dive, as wide as one could travel and as high as one could aspire. It was not about fulfilling ambition, not about personal glorification, not about gathering wealth.
Mr and Mrs Choksy graced the dinner I hosted at the Oberoi on the occasion of my swearing in so many, many years ago.
Now 90 years old, my mother, with affection, recollected the late Mrs Choksy: “Freeni (Freny) was a down-to-earth, gracious lady.”
I am reaching 70 now. In this lifetime and others to come in my sansaric journey, I consider it a privilege to have known K N Choksy, PC, indeed an enduring legacy. Vishtap, the relay baton is in your hands!
Yohan Fernando
(Rtd overseas judge)