Senior Advocate Chander Lall launches 'At the Pleasure of His Majesty: IM Lall and The Case That Shook the Crown'

Horrors of the Partition, Article 311 of the Indian Constitution and a landmark legal battle where for the first time, a ‘subject’ won against the British crown. These three events in Indian history form the plot of a book written by Senior Advocate Chander M Lall..At the Pleasure of His Majesty: IM Lall and The Case that Shook the Crown was launched at the Delhi High Court on Tuesday evening.The book delves into the life and legal battle of Inder Mohan Lall, an Indian Civil Services (ICS) officer and the author’s grandfather.In 1937, IM Lall invited the wrath of the British Empire when he stood up to protect India’s national treasures. He was suspended from service as district and sessions judge. Lall challenged his suspension and finally in 1948, the Privy Council reversed his dismissal in the verdict of High Commissioner for India and the High Commissioner for Pakistan v. IM Lall.The case laid the foundation of Article 311 of the Constitution of India, which deals with the provisions related to the dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of civil servants and acts as a safeguard against their arbitrary removal from service..The book launch was attended by Supreme Court judges Justices Hima Kohli and Sanjay Karol, Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan, former Supreme Court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and former CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant..Speaking at the occasion, Justice Kaul said that Article 311 is an important facet of the Indian Constitution. He added,“Judges have bigger protection than civil servants. That is all I would say. In a legal fraternity, I would say that the boldness expected from judges is even higher."Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said that Article 311 safeguards bureaucrats and basically incorporates the principles of natural justice.“The book and story of IM Lall is about living with your conviction and ideals,” he said.Kant said that the Indian bureaucracy owes a lot to IM Lall and it is because of his efforts and protection under Article 311 that young bureaucrats have the courage to take right decisions even if, at times, people in power may not like those decisions.Justice Kohli reflected that the book is also about the Partition of India. She shared the details of the perilous journey that her family undertook to come to India.“The journey, when they travelled from that side to this one (India) was traumatic and devastating for many of them, because they were hearing about dead bodies lying all over and trains, busloads of people cutting across from here to Pakistan and vice-versa…all that trauma shared by my father was deep inside. But the refugees from Pakistan, they made a real place for themselves after they started from scratch and went on to work, built industries, trade, on all fronts.”