I and Narendraji are a native of Beed. Our families have had a close association for two generations. Our fathers were fast friends, prominent practising lawyers of the district and freedom fighters. My father Manoharrao Borde represented criminal cases, while his father Purushottam Chapalgaonkar represented civil cases. Moreover, our fathers had also undergone jail as a part of the freedom struggle.
In terms of age, I was junior to him. When he started practising law in Beed (in 1962), I was probably in Class VI. He then moved to Mumbai (in 1979) and shifted to the city (the then Aurangabad) when the Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court was established on August 27, 1980. After practising for a considerable period of years, he was elevated to High Court Judge (Aurangabad Bench). I practised law for one year in Beed (1980-81) and then started practising in Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) Bench until I got elevated as High Court Judge in 2006. I retired from Principal Bench Bombay High Court in 2019. However, he retired in 1999.
Socially speaking, he was a very humanitarian person, soft-spoken, liberal and a pro-poor judge. He had given many landmark judgements relating to the Co-operative movement. He specialised in Co-operative elections, Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and Writ Petitions (WPs).
He was a prolific and non-fiction writer. During his practising years, he has penned books titled 'Law of Election', 'Prevention of Food Adulteration Act', etc. His books portray his intellectual depth and are thought-provoking. After his retirement, he wrote more than 25 books on myriad topics including Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Swami Ramanand Teerth, Nizams etc.
I remember his presiding speech at an All India Marathi Literary Meet in Wardha, he gave a fiery speech. He spoke fearlessly on the need for 'Freedom of Expression'. This speech turned out to be hard-hitting for the audience. Being a staunch socialist, he was an active preacher and had close relations with many bigwigs like George Fernandes, S M Joshi etc.
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Last Wish
Before hospitalisation, he was working on some books. While lying on the hospital bed, he expressed his wish to release his book titled 'Lokshahi and Hukumshahi' and it was fulfilled as well. The event was held as per his wish and incidentally turned out to be his last one. He was indeed a great philosophical thinker, orator and author.