Dozen & counting,lawyer collects copies of Constitution

Nanda is the standing counsel for the Union of India.

His interest got its first push from his father,a Jalandhar-based lawyer,who left him four of the original 1,100 copies printed after the Constitution came into being on January 26,1950.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had handpicked artist Nandalal Bose,the first principal of Kala Bhavan,Santiniketan,to design the Constitution. It was calligraphed by artist Prem.

Sources said less than 200 of the original copies are with private collectors,the large chunk sitting in government archives and libraries. The central government had also printed a few more copies in 2000.

Nanda said: “I started collecting rare books and manuscripts soon after I began to practise law. I have the original copies of the first judicial reports,better known as the Madras High Court Reports — for years 1861 to 1862.”

Nanda is also the proud owner of the first copy of the first draft of the proposed Indian Penal Code (IPC),which was submitted by the First Law Commission in 1859 to the House of Lords. The Commission was chaired by Lord Macaulay. The IPC came into effect in 1860,though Macaulay did not live to see his work being turned into law.

Nanda has also made another acquisition last year. While dealing with the case of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s expulsion from the Assembly,Nanda acquired the original copy of Erskine May’s Parliamentary Procedure,considered the Bible of Parliamentary procedures.

But he has a grouse. “We are not a country known for preserving our heritage. Will you be surprised if I told you that I bought one of the Constitution copies from a Kolkata scrap dealer? He had no idea of its significance. There is a limit to how much people like me can do. The government must step in,” he said.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer and Constitution expert K K Venugopal is another collector,who had more than one edition of the Constitution.

“But,now I have just one,” Venugopal told Newsline¸ adding,“A few years ago I donated one to the museum of the Madras High Court. I also gifted two,one each to former Supreme Court judges P B Jeevan Reddy and Kuldip Singh — after they retired.”

The Supreme Court has a copy too.