New Delhi: Advocate Lily Thomas, the most senior female lawyer of the Supreme Court, passed away at the age of 91 in the early hours of Tuesday morning at Max Hospital in New Delhi’s Patparganj.
Born in Kottayam, Kerala, she obtained her degree of law from Madras University where she was also the first woman to complete the LLM course.
She started her practice in the Madras High Court. In 1955, she moved to Delhi and began practice at the Supreme Court. Over the course of her nearly 60-year long practice at the Supreme Court, she filed many important public interest litigations.
She filed the first petition challenging the Advocate-On-Record system. She was of the view that the court did not have the power to subject the advocates to this exam as Section 30 of Advocates Act provides that all the advocates have the right to practice in all Courts across the country, including the Supreme Court and thus, no restriction could be imposed in this regard.
She has been the mind and intention behind striking down Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act that allowed convicted lawmakers to continue without disqualification during the pendency of appeals challenging the conviction.
The landmark ruling paved a new standard for the election of leaders, seen to cleanse politics from criminalization.
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