AT A CONVERSATION organised by The Leaflet in December 2024, Justice Gautam Patel asked Professor Upendra Baxi what three things a citizen wants from a judge in the Indian judiciary. Baxi’s answer was simple, “Spine, Spine, Spine!” It is this quality that Professor Amita Dhanda sets out to trace in her biography of Justice M.N. Rao, a man who over the course of his career assumed the varied roles of a Judge, Law Secretary, Senior Advocate, and the Chairperson of the Backward Class Commission.
Although Justice Rao published his memoir, ‘Glimpses from the Recital of My Life,’ in 2021, the present book is less interested in reminiscence than in reckoning. Organised into seven chapters, it follows the major phases of his career in roughly chronological sequence, showing how each role informed the next and together shaped what she calls the “Renaissance Man of Law.”
The Law Secretary
As the Law Secretary to undivided Andhra Pradesh between 1979 and 1983, Justice Rao worked with five Chief Ministers. Professor Dhanda highlights the demands of the role, which included drafting legislation, shaping litigation policy, and articulating legal understanding with clarity.
