M. C. Setalvad
lawyer and politician
Motilal Chimanlal Setalvad (c. 1884 – 1974) was an Indian jurist. Setalvad was the first and longest serving Attorney General for India, serving from 1950 to 1963. He also remained the Chairman of the first Law Commission of India (1955–1958), which has mandated for legal reform in the country by Government of India. He became the first Chairman of the Bar Council of India in 1961.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor, by the Government of India in 1957.
Biography
The son of noted lawyer Chimanlal Harilal Setalvad, Setalvad was born in Bombay. He studied at Government Law College, Mumbai.
Setalvad started practicing law in Bombay and eventually became Advocate General of Bombay and Attorney General for India in 1950, in the formative years of Government of India, under Jawaharlal Nehru.
Setalvad appeared for the government in a host of important and, at times, controversial cases.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “M. C. Setalvad” as lawyer and politician. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as lawyer and politician. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11926553. VIAF identifies the subject as 75054684. The Library of Congress control number is n79129071. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1884, 1974, 1950 and 1963.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “M. C. Setalvad”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow M. C. Setalvad primary sources, M. C. Setalvad archive and Setalvad research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “M. C. Setalvad” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.