Mahadev Shankar
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Datuk Mahadev Shankar is a prominent Malaysian lawyer and former Malaysian Court of Appeal Judge.
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[edit] Early Years
Shankar was a student of Victoria Institution. He joined the school after World War I from Pasar Road School and was active in debating and in drama. Indeed, he was the first president of the V.I. Dramatics Society, a successor to the long-dormant VIMADS (V.I. Musical and Dramatic Society) of the 1920s. He is well remembered for his title role as Antonio in the Society's first major production, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, which played to packed houses for five nights in August, 1952.
He was also the V.I. Rodger Scholar of 1951.
[edit] Legal career
Shankar was called to the Bar of the Inner Temple in 1955 and enrolled as an Advocate and Solicitor in Malaya in July 1956 whilst in Shearn Delamore and Company, Kuala Lumpur where he became a partner in 1961 whence he retired in 1983.
During this period he was actively engaged in general litigation and was a Board Member of several public companies including Malaysian Airlines System Bhd from 1975 to 1983. He was the legal advisor to the New Straits Times Group on libel laws and the resident representative of the Medical Defence Union.
[edit] Judiciary
He was appointed Judge of the High Court in August 1983 and he served in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, and Selangor till 1994 when he was elevated to the Court of Appeal. He retired from the judiciary in November 1997.
Apart from the hundreds of Judgements he has delivered during his tenure as a judge he also served as a Royal Commissioner on two national inquiries and was the Advisory Editor for Halsbury’ Laws of Malaysia on Civil Procedure.
With specific reference to Arbitration, whilst in practice he has acted as an Arbitrator in the Whitley Council to revise the Wage Structure of the Postal Department of Malaysia, in labour disputes on the first Industrial Arbitration Tribunal, and in private arbitrations in disputes between dissenting partners in legal firms. He delivered the judgement of the Court of Appeal on the inviolabilty of the awards of the Regional Centre from Judicial review.
[edit] Contributions
[edit] Social
In the course of his legal and Judicial career he has been a member of the Malaysian Bar Council for many years, and was appointed a member of the National Goodwill Council in 1969, a Royal Commissioner in 1971 for the Reform of the Laws of Marriage and Divorce in Malaysia and for many years he was a member of the Legal Qualifying Board established under the Legal Profession Act.
[edit] Legal
Since his retirement from the Judiciary he has acted as an Arbitrator in a corporate dispute between joint venture partners on severance terms, a major dispute between the Owner and Main contractor in one of Kuala Lumpur’s prime building projects. The ongoing arbitrations in which he is now involved include a construction dispute in East Malaysia, and a dispute between two corporate conglomerates on the enforceablity of put options.
He is an Honorary Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators, and is a registered Panel member in the Regional Centre of Arbitration Kuala Lumpur and also in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.
[edit] Human Rights
In 1998 he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Injuries sustained by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim whilst in police custody.
He was one of the founder members of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia which was established in 1999.
[edit] Education
He was a Visiting Professor to the University of Malaya in 1998 and is currently an Honorary Visiting Professor in Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and is also an associate of the College of Law in Sydney, Australia for their course on Advocacy for post graduate students.
[edit] International Conferences
He has also represented Malaysia on several international conferences on a variety of legal subjects. These included:
- Intellectual Property laws in
- Price Variation and Escalation clauses in International contracts at the Singapore Business Laws Conference
- The Right to a Fair Trial in Heidelberg 1996
- Conferences on Aviation Laws in Dallas 1979, New York 1981, and Taipei in 1990.
[edit] Currently
Since 1999 to date he has been a Consultant in Zaid Ibrahim and Company which is one of the larger law firms in Malaysia which also has a branch in Singapore.
He is a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary International and was recently nominated by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia as its Advisory Jurist to the Asia Pacific Forum.
