Benegal Narsing Rau

February 26, 1988

A commemorative postage stamp on the Birth Centenary of Sir B. N. Rau, the Constitutional Adviser to the Constituent Assembly in drafting the Indian Constitution :

Issued by India

Issued on Feb 26, 1988

Description of Designs : The stamp, designed by India Security Press, Nashik Road, and first day cover are based on designs given by Shri M.M. Rao. The cancellation is designed by Smt. Nenu Gupta.

Type : Stamp, Mint condition

Colour : Single colour

Denomination : 60 Paise

Overall size : 4.06 x 2.73 cms.

Printing size : 3.71 x 2.38 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Indigenous unwater marked adhesive P G Matt coated stamp paper

Number Printed : 10,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 40

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printed : India Security Press

Name : Benegal Narsing Rau

Born on Feb 26, 1887 at Mangaluru, Karnataka, India

Died on Nov 30, 1953 at Zurich, Switzerland

About :

Born on 26^th February 1887, Sir B.N. Rau had a brilliant academic career at Madras and Cambridge. Entering the Indian Civil Service in 1909, he spent 14 years in undivided Bengal and later as Legal Remembrancer and Secretary to the Legislative Assembly in Assam. In 1935 the Government of India appointed him to work out the details precedent to the introduction of Federation at the Centre under the Act of 1935. This entailed the monumental effort of revising all central and provincial statutes to fit into the new constitution.
Marked out for his exceptional gifts and judicial balance, he was selected to settle disputes in the working conditions in the G.I.P. Railway and later distribution of the Indus waters in the dispute among some of the Northern States. B.N. Rau’s “Indus Award” became a classic in riparian rights and “equitable appointment of waters” among disputants. In 1941 Sir B.N. Rau was appointed Chairman of the Hindu Law Committee and later briefly served as Prime Minister to the Maharaja of Kashmir.
Because of his immense scholarship in constitutional matters, Government requested his assistance in framing a new Constitution for India after the war. He accepted this, turning down a permanent Judgeship of the Calcutta High Court. He was appointed Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and helped draft India’s permanent Constitution. The President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, writing of him as the Constitutional Advisor, said “Sir B.N. Rau was the person who visualised the plan and laid its foundations. His services to the Constituent Assembly were appreciated even outside India.”
He travelled widely in USA, Canada, Eire and UK, discussing with leading constitutional authorities about matters pertaining to the Constitution. He also assisted Prime Minister Aung San in framing Burma’s Constitution.
In 1948 Sir B.N. Rau was elected Member of the International Law Commission and in 1952 to the International Court of Justice. His role at the United Nations and the respect he enjoyed as India’s Representative can best be described in the words of Justice Frankfurter: “You are one of the few people who had a deep, instinctive sense of justice. I begrudged the years you gave, I am sure conscientiously, to diplomacy and rejoiced when you took your rightful place in the Court.”
He died in 1953 when the Lok Sabha, with Jawaharlal Nehru, then its leader, paid homage to B.N. Rau, a rare tribute to a non-member, who had been closely associated with the Constitution of the country. He is remembered as legal counsellor, law reformer and above all constitutional architect.
Text, Courtesy: The Indian Law Institute.