LawBeat - Hijab Judgment Is A Significant March of The Law - Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya in An Exclusive Interview With LawBeat

11/16/22, 9:12 AM LawBeat | "Hijab judgment is a significant march of the law": Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya in an exclusive interview
ajan Poovayya in an exclusive interview with LawBeat
"Hijab Judgment Is A Significant ALSO READ
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
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Read Time: 01 hours
Sajan Poovayya, Senior Advocate, while defending the College

Tennis Player Leander
Development Council of the government PU College, Udupi, in
Paes Files Appeal
the ‘Hijab’ case, questioned the societal imposition Against Order Directi…
of restrictions on clothing for girls and thrusting on “modesty”
Raj Bhojani
for them, when no such rules apply to boys. Povayya contended
15 Hours Ago
that most of these children are minors and the decision to wear

a Hijab should be left to them upon attaining majority.
"I have a duty to ensure that I achieve secularism as enshrined

in the constitution", he argued. Delhi High Court
Dismisses Uddhav
Thackeray's Plea…
The College Development Council was in the eye of the storm
during the proceeding, the full bench of Karnataka High Court Gautam Mishra
16 Hours Ago
was considering whether it had infringed upon the fundamental
rights of the students by enforcing the uniform and whether 
disciplinary inquiry should be initiated against them for their
actions.
Poovayya’s arguments succeed in the High Court as it held that

schools have the power to enforce uniforms on students as it is
a reasonable restriction on fundamental rights. The High Court
https://lawbeat.in/bar-speaks/hijab-judgment-significant-march-law-senior-advocate-sajan-poovayya-exclusive-interview 1/9
11/16/22, 9:12 AM LawBeat | "Hijab judgment is a significant march of the law": Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya in an exclusive interview with LawBeat
had further held that there was no case made out against the
CDC to initiate disciplinary enquiry.
In this interview with LawBeat, Poovayya shares his journey and

experience with the Hijab brief and why the judgment delivered
by the Karnataka High Court is “a significant march of the law".
He also shares his experience with social media while arguing

the case and why he feels “Social media should be a platform
for debate, not disparagement.”
Hailing from Coorg, Poovayya, describes his experience of

transitioning from his native to Bengaluru to Delhi as “smooth
and timely.” Speaking of his journey from being a law student to
a managing partner of a law firm almost immediately, he says it
is “a wonderful result of favourable circumstances.” Speaking at
length about how he became an expert in technology litigation,
Poovayya notes that Computer law had fascinated him and this
fascination was duly supported by the Information Technology
boom in Bengaluru in the 1990s.
Speaking of why he chose to be designated as a senior

advocate despite being a managing partner of a successful law
firm, he says he “thoroughly enjoyed everyday of his existence
as a senior advocate and will continue to do so.”
Calling the increasing legal awareness among the citizenry as a

positive change, he says, “people who were hitherto
subjugated, now have the wherewithal and capacity to
approach courts seeking redressal.”
Addressing the increasing mental health issues among young

lawyers in the country Poovayya notes that “a vast majority of
the juniors in this country are paid below par.”
Read the interview for a detailed take on the above mentioned

aspects:
What was it like to go from Coorg to a metropolis like

Bangalore for education/work and subsequently to a bigger
metropolis Delhi? Can you describe the culture shock you
experienced? How did you cope with it?
My transition from Coorg to Bangalore and thereafter to Delhi

was not only smooth, but timely. I felt no shocks, cultural or
otherwise, probably because the transition was not overnight.
Coorg although is rural in its natural settings, is modern in its
social ethos. In particular, the Kodava community to which I
belong is more westernized as compared to others in the region.
I had the benefit of being schooled in some of the oldest
schools in Coorg, which traditionally had continuous cultural
exchanges with similar institutions in Europe. The Jesuit schools

in Coorg not only imparted modern education, but also ingrained
liberal ideology in the student community.
Post schooling in Coorg, I moved to Bangalore for my

intermediate collegiate education and for my first degree of law
at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU). The law
school was a melting pot with a vibrant student community. The
law school of those years under the stewardship of doyens such
as Dr. N.R. Madhava Menon, Dr. N.L. Mitra and Justice E.S.
Venkataramiah not only imparted legal education, but also
helped students build strong character. I also thoroughly
enjoyed my stint at the London School of Economics and
Political Science. LSE probably pushed me further into the
domain of libertarianism. The law school readied young souls to
face extreme challenges. I therefore found no culture shocks or
extremities either at the Bangalore Bar or Delhi Bar.
Educational institutions play an important role in building a

person’s character and equipping her to face challenges, in the
course of life. I was lucky that my school, St. Anne’s at Coorg;
and the Law School at Bangalore equipped me well and
provided me shoes to tread unknown paths. But as they say,
your destination is not dependent on the shoes you wear but
the steps you take. I have always been an explorer. New
challenges in unknown locations excited me the most. It is
probably for that reason, I chose not to practice at the Coorg
Bar and moved to Bangalore. It is probably for the very reason
that I chose not to continue at the Bangalore Bar a few years
after Designation and chose to relocate to New Delhi. Having
now spent sufficient number of fruitful years in New Delhi, I find
the Delhi Bar (an amalgam of Supreme Court Bar, Delhi High
Court Bar and those of National Appellate Tribunals) most
vibrant and most accommodating. The Delhi Bar welcomed me
affectionately and I count some of my best friends at the Bar in
New Delhi. The uniqueness of the Delhi Bar is, it not only
accommodates talent from all over the country, but also
provides such talent fertile ground to further grow. The
opportunity to argue against the best legal minds in the country,
continually on a day-to-day basis, is the best gift the Delhi Bar
has to offer. My journey till now has been exciting, to state the
least. I look forward to further exciting challenges as I go along.
My transition from Coorg to Bangalore and onward to New Delhi
has been thoroughly gratifying.
What prompted you to start a law firm immediately after

graduating?
Starting a law firm immediately upon graduating and enrolling at

the Bar was a result of a combination of circumstances. I
graduated from NLSIU in 1996 and had to undergo a year of
compulsory internship prior to enrollment, in compliance with
extant Bar Council regulations. Although my seniority at the Bar
was reckoned from 1996, my enrollment was in June of 1997.
The law firm Poovayya & Co., opened its doors in September
1997. Why would a young lawyer, a greenhorn at the Bar chose
to establish a law firm? As I said, a wonderful result of
favourable circumstances. Through my five years at the National
Law School, I clerked with Mr. Vijay Shankar, Senior Advocate. I
would work at his Chambers every evening after school and well
into the night. I drafted petitions, researched on briefs, prepared
submissions for Senior Counsel and even tagged along to
courts. Through five years of clerking, I completely familiarized
myself on the workings of the Karnataka High Court. I was
familiar with how the registry operates and familiar with the
thought process at the Bar. An additional year of formal
internship post-graduation, cemented my confidence levels.
Post enrollment, I approached my Chamber Senior Mr. Vijay
Shankar who was then the Advocate General for Karnataka with
a request that I be permitted to start a law firm. He was
extremely encouraging. Go on you have my blessings, he said.
“If you succeed, I will be very happy for you; if you don’t, the
doors of my Chamber are always open”, were his words. I now
had a further safety net.
My wife had graduated from NLSIU by then and had started her
legal corporate career at a large enterprise. She supported me
in many ways including financially. What more could I ask? I
therefore jumped at the opportunity and established Poovayya
& Co., in 1997. In a span of three years, by the year 2000, the
law firm had grown substantially and was one of the larger firms
in the city in terms of the size, human capital and turnover.
There was no looking back from thereon. A little more than a
decade thereafter, upon being designated as Senior Advocate, I
quit the firm. I am proud that the firm continues to grow and
today is one of the largest firms operating in Bangalore. I have
not been a part of the firm for almost a decade now, but the fact
it continues to grow makes me proud.
What drew you to IT and data protection laws? It’s definitely

an up and coming field but how did you get to choose it?
When I joined the Bar almost three decades ago, specialization

was a rarity. The Bar only had broad segregations. You had a
Criminal Bar, a Civil Bar and a Tax Bar. Corporate litigation,
commercial litigation, monopolies and antitrust litigation were all
categorized broadly as civil litigation. Although I joined the civil

side of the Bar, in my initial years I undertook considerable work
at the criminal side of the Bar too, particularly NDPS cases. A
lawyer drifts towards specialized verticals within the law
depending upon the briefs she receives.
The economic ecosystem in Bangalore was at a cusp during the

mid-nineties. The city had begun this rendezvous with
information technology. Towards the end of the nineties Y2K
bubble was looming large and every technology company worth
its name was working on it. At that point in time, a lot of foreign
corporations, particularly US multinational corporations were
undertaking considerable business with technology companies
located at Bangalore. Those foreign corporations needed
domestic lawyers in Bangalore who understood a bit of
technology and could help with various contracting and
representative requirements. During that period there were very
few national law firms capable of undertaking technology
related legal work. Computer law as we called it then always
fascinated me.
I dabbled with elementary computerization early in life. My first

personal computer, which my father gifted me in 1991 was a
80386 machine, with a 32 bit micro processor and a storage of
40 MB, which was considered large for those times. My love
firm for computerization began with that machine. Therefore,
when our little law firm based in Bangalore got the opportunity
to undertake computer law related work, a precursor to
technology law, we jumped at the opportunity. Briefs and
engagements from technology companies in the Bay Area
pushed us towards specializing in technology laws, data
protection and internet regulation. Technology companies which
are worth hundreds of billions of dollars today were very small
then. With growth came larger technology law related
representative requirements; and that growth spurred
technology work for all of us.
This answers why I continue to undertake considerable work in

areas of information technology, data protection and internet
regulation today. I have been lucky to witness the
transformation in this legal vertical over the last 25 years and I
have grown with it. It is not just sufficient to know the law. It is
important to know how the law interoperates with information
technology in the business vertical.
A lot of senior partners at law firms choose to not get

designated to run the firm, why did you choose to get
designated?
Let alone choosing to be designated as Senior Advocate, I did

not even choose law as my academic/professional avocation at
first instance. I was not a humanities student. Biology and
mathematics excited me the most. I choose the medical field
and wanted to become a doctor. My father convinced me to sit
the entrance examination for NLSIU. I was told I would be given
the freedom to choose between law and medicine, should I pass
the law school entrance examination. Even during those times,
the law school entrance examination was a tough cookie and a
mess. I wrote the entrance examinations for both law and
medicine. The law school results were published earlier and my
father once again convinced me to enroll at the law school,
which I did. My father is a litigator at the criminal side of the Bar
and I have always seen him enjoy his work. That spirit probably
influenced me to choose law over medicine. As a student of the
law at NLSIU I had no doubts in my mind that I wanted to be a
litigator. My father’s court room lawyering at the mofussil courts
in Coorg inspired me and many others. I had absolutely no
doubts in my mind the litigation was the vertical for me.
As I have said earlier, the law firm began in 1997 and grew
rapidly. With rapid growth came various administrative
responsibilities which pinned me down and kept me away from
court room lawyering. I hated the managerial part of my role in
the law firm. I therefore did everything to spend more time in
courts and as less as possible in the office. I fell further in love
with litigation and that too in a wide variety of areas in the law
during my stint as the Additional Advocate General for
Karnataka, which opportunity came my way very early in my
career. It is at that point of time, I decided that I would quit the
law firm and operate purely as Senior Advocate, should I be
designated. My Senior Advocate designation was in the pre-
Indira Jaising Judgement era. The process was rather
cumbersome. I do feel blessed at being designated rather
young, which exceptional for those times. No sooner I was
designated as Senior Advocate, I gave up all equity in the firm
and resigned. I am of the view that a Senior Advocate should
not be attached to a law firm and should be completely
independent. It is that sense of independence which gives a
Senior Advocate the capacity to consider briefs from a different
perspective. Quitting the law firm did adversely impact me
financially, but that was short-lived. I have thoroughly enjoyed
every day of my existence as a Senior Advocate over the last
decade and I continue to enjoy my journey.
You recently successfully defended the College Development

Council in the Hijab matter, what was your experience with
the brief?
I enjoy working on all briefs that I receive and the Hijab litigation
was no different. Although the Hijab controversy received
unnecessary publicity given the political discourse that
surrounded it, as a legal brief it was a pure constitutional matter.
I have always been a lawyer supporting free speech and
libertarianism. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time arguing for
individual freedoms whether be it in Shreya Singhal,
Puttaswamy-I (Privacy) or Puttaswamy-II (Aadhaar). I continue
to enjoy my work for various large internet intermediaries, in
support of free speech. It was therefore only logical that I
accepted a brief from the College Development Council, which
supported the prevalence of a uniform dress code in tune with
secularism and libertarianism, devoid of the shackles of religious
prescriptions being imposed upon a person.
A full bench of the Karnataka High Court consisting of Chief

Justice Ritu Raj Awasti, Justice Krishna S. Dixit and Justice J.M.
Khazi did a splendid job, in patiently considering all arguments,
however, volatile they may have been; distilling them to core
constitutional issues; and answering them brilliantly. The
judgement is a significant march of the law.
You are moderately active on social media, how did it react

when you argued the Hijab matter?
It is true that I am moderately active on social media.

Technology is a great tool for social engineering. It is therefore
important to comment responsibly on social media. One should
never lower the level of discourse on social media. Whilst
arguing in the Hijab litigation I received a fair share of criticism
from multiple quarters and a larger share of appreciation. I
personally believe that one should not be influenced by the
bouquets and brickbats one receives through social media.
Social media should be a platform for debate, not
disparagement.
Do you think matters that ideally should be addressed at a

smaller level are reaching the courts more often these days?
Citizens approaching courts, invoking judicial remedies is a

positive sign. More litigation in courts does not necessarily
mean that society is becoming more litigious. On a positive note
it means, people who were hither to subjugated, now have the
wherewithal and capacity to approach courts seeking redressal.
The doors of our courts are no more so heavy that the
downtrodden cannot push them open. More litigation at the
lower courts is a sign of more people seeking judicial redressal
in a pluralistic democracy. Compared to the United States for

example, the number of litigations per capita in India is still very
low.
Do you think litigation in India is moving in the right direction,

in terms of technology, upgradation and practices?
The litigation vertical in India has so much more to learn from

other major legal jurisdictions, in terms of best practices. That
said, in my view, litigation practice is moving in the right
direction in India. The level of discourse that one finds in Indian
courts, in matters of constitutional law and technology law, is
fairly high. However, we certainly can do better by adopting
some of the best practices of the west. By way of illustration,
reducing the time spent in oral submissions in courts and
improving the quality of written submissions, will go a long way
in reducing protraction of litigation and increasing the qualitative
level of court room lawyering.
It is heartening to note that the younger generation of lawyers

entering the Bar are not only smarter, but better equipped than
the older generation. They are not only more intelligent, but also
more committed. The younger generation at the Bar use
technology to aid court room lawyering much more than the
seniors do. I have no doubt, with time, the younger members of
the Bar will usher a transcendental improvement in litigation and
court room lawyering in the country.
There is a lot of discourse around mental health issue among

the lawyers, COVID especially played a big role in it. why do
you think this deterioration in mental health is happening in
this day and age?
Mental health issues among lawyers is a very important

question that has received very little attention. I am glad you
bring it up. Stress levels in the legal profession have been
traditionally high. Some studies have compared the stress levels
of a litigator to those of miners working in underground shafts.
The pandemic further complicated matters, augmenting stress
to disproportionate levels. Unfortunately, there has been little
discourse on this subject at the Bar, except in recent times.
The judiciary, of late, has drawn attention to this issue with

some of our Judges initiating discourse and action at various
levels. In my view, seniors at the Bar should do their bit to
reduce stress levels suffered by young lawyers, if not alleviate it
completely. For starters, I am of the view that seniors must pay
juniors at the Bar well. The remuneration to junior advocates
should be at level sufficient for juniors to support a comfortable
life. Barring certain artificial islands of prosperity, a vast majority
of the juniors in this country are paid below par. Money may not
be everything in this profession, but it indeed plays an important
role in ensuring that younger members of the Bar have enough
to support a decent lifestyle, so as to enable them to contribute
at the Bar, without having to maintain a sub-optimal existence.
The sooner seniors recognize this issue the better it will be.
Apart to financial security, seniors should also ensure that
younger members receive adequate opportunities to display
their capabilities at the Bar. It is also important to establish
institutional mechanisms to ensure that members at the Bar who
suffer from depression, stress and anxiety receive therapeutic
and counselling support.
Gujarat First
Riots Covid-19
2002|… Death…

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11/16/22, 9:12 AM LawBeat | "Hijab judgment is a significant march of the law": Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya in an exclusive interview

ajan Poovayya in an exclusive interview with LawBeat

"Hijab Judgment Is A Significant ALSO READ

March Of The Law": Senior

Delhi High Court

Sajan Poovayya, Senior Advocate, while defending the College

"I have a duty to ensure that I achieve secularism as enshrined

Poovayya’s arguments succeed in the High Court as it held that

In this interview with LawBeat, Poovayya shares his journey and

He also shares his experience with social media while arguing

Hailing from Coorg, Poovayya, describes his experience of

Speaking of why he chose to be designated as a senior

Calling the increasing legal awareness among the citizenry as a

Addressing the increasing mental health issues among young

Read the interview for a detailed take on the above mentioned

What was it like to go from Coorg to a metropolis like

My transition from Coorg to Bangalore and thereafter to Delhi

exchanges with similar institutions in Europe. The Jesuit schools

Post schooling in Coorg, I moved to Bangalore for my

Educational institutions play an important role in building a

What prompted you to start a law firm immediately after

Starting a law firm immediately upon graduating and enrolling at

What drew you to IT and data protection laws? It’s definitely

When I joined the Bar almost three decades ago, specialization

categorized broadly as civil litigation. Although I joined the civil

The economic ecosystem in Bangalore was at a cusp during the

I dabbled with elementary computerization early in life. My first

This answers why I continue to undertake considerable work in

A lot of senior partners at law firms choose to not get

Let alone choosing to be designated as Senior Advocate, I did

You recently successfully defended the College Development

A full bench of the Karnataka High Court consisting of Chief

You are moderately active on social media, how did it react

It is true that I am moderately active on social media.

Do you think matters that ideally should be addressed at a

Citizens approaching courts, invoking judicial remedies is a

in a pluralistic democracy. Compared to the United States for

Do you think litigation in India is moving in the right direction,

The litigation vertical in India has so much more to learn from

It is heartening to note that the younger generation of lawyers

There is a lot of discourse around mental health issue among

Mental health issues among lawyers is a very important

The judiciary, of late, has drawn attention to this issue with

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