The renowned attorney KTS Tulsi, 75, has established numerous firsts over his more than five-decade career with his flawless interpretations of the issues he handled during the period. He continues to do but with a new duty as a Rajya Sabha Member. In the first of our series on Legal Legends, Manoj Rastogi attempts to elicit the virtuoso attorney’s opinions regarding the ongoing discussion about collegium and government while JP Gupta profiles the attorney.
He has a distinct personality and is a person of different calibre, where professionalism and humanism coexist, much to the comfort of the individuals he represents. He conducts himself in court in his own unflappable manner.True, KTS Tulsi, a towering figure in Indian law, requires such a contradictory introduction. Given that he studied both political science and law, it is not surprising that he has created a dominating impression in both domains.As a senior attorney in the Supreme Court of India and a Member of Parliament serving his second term, Mr. Tulsi has been advocating for issues affecting the ordinary man and his predicament.
His ten-year-long tireless and dedicated effort against the combined onslaught of a large business house and various government statutory agencies resulted in the victims receiving previously unheard-of compensation. The ruling also represents a significant development in the realm of public interest litigation as well as a significant advance in efforts to raise India’s governance standards. The case demonstrated his unusual grit and competence as a professional while simultaneously demonstrating his humane nature to the world.
Mr. Tulsi, who was born in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, in 1947, completed his bachelor’s degree in law in 1971 and then enrolled as a member of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar. He graduated with honours in political science from the Punjab University.He decided to earn his living through his spoken word after being a keen debater in school and college and a topper in moot courts in law. The initial years of practise were complimented by an assignment as a part-time articles in law journals and newspapers.
With his employment as a Special Prosecutor against terrorists in Punjab, Delhi, and Assam starting in 1980, Mr. Tulsi increasingly veered into the area of criminal law. Mr. Tulsi took on the difficult task of prosecuting “A”-grade terrorists, including the cases of Operation Black Thunder, the attempt on Mr. JF Rebeiro’s life, the Talwara Bank Dacoity case, etc. while terrorism was raging in Punjab and no attorney was willing to step forward and prosecute the terrorists.
He was appointed Additional Solicitor General of India in 1990 after being designated as a Senior Advocate in 1987. In this capacity, he represented the government before more than ten Constitution Benches of the Supreme Court of India in a number of significant cases, including those involving the constitutionality of the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, cases related to the assassination of former Prime Minister Sh. Rajiv Gandhi, the Bombay Blast case, and significant cases against various terrorist groups, such as the JKLF, LTTE, PWG, etc.
Mr. Tulsi was chosen as the Criminal Justice Society of India’s president in 1994, and he still occupies that post now. He was elected vice president of the Asian Patent Lawyers Association and president of the Intellectual Property Attorneys Association in the same year. The Criminal Justice Society of India has organised a number of significant national seminars under the direction of Mr. Tulsi on topics such delays in criminal justice, search and seizure procedure, matrimonial offences, fighting corruption, etc.He made headlines when he refused to argue cases for the Gujarat government after Chief Minister Narendra Modi justified the Sohrabuddin encounter, a case in which he was defending the state government before the Supreme Court.
Tulsi also took up the case of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who was facing the death penalty for a terror attack in Delhi. The idea was not to reopen the case but to save Bhullar from the gallows. He sought commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of the inordinate delay of eight years by the President in deciding his mercy plea. Bhullar’s death sentence was eventually commuted to life in prison.He represented Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra, who is alleged to have amassed wealth and farm lands out of using his status as a Gandhi family person in the Vadra-DLF land case.
In his glorious legal career of 50 years, Mr. Tulsi has appeared as Special Counsel for the State of Tamil Nadu in a murder case against the Shankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi Math (2004), and also in the Coimbatore Bomb Blast (2005). He has since then been representing a host of eminent individuals and organizations, including corporations, before various courts of law in India. Mr. Tulsi has been a revered panellist for discussions and has accepted speaking invitations all over the world. Mr. Tulsi is a Parliamentarian in addition to being a Senior Advocate. Between 2014 and 2020, he was a Nominated Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). He is now in his second term as a Member of Parliament from Chhattisgarh (2020–2026). In his spare time, Mr.Tulsi is an avid reader, tennis player, and fitness enthusiast.
OUT OF BOX
He likes hosting lavish parties, watching sports and collecting vintage cars
Approximately Rs 5 lakh per appearance. But he provides free assistance to needy people.
