Suresh Pakale turned to law not by grand design, but by circumstance. (Photo Credit: Special Arrangement)Written by Vaishnavi GujarARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEOA boy who once aspired to become a chartered accountant, today stands as a senior advocate in the Bombay High Court, marking over four decades in law.Suresh Pakale never planned to become a lawyer. Growing up in Pedhe Parshuram, a small village in Ratnagiri’s Khed taluka, he dreamed of becoming a chartered accountant. Life, as it often does, had other plans.Pakale’s early years were marked by hardship and resilience. At the time, school was held in a temple, and he studied there. Later, he enrolled in a Zilla Parishad school, where irregular teaching and a missing bridge over the Vashishti River made attending classes a daily challenge. To support his family, he sold flower garlands and lotus flowers before school each morning. A turning point came when a dedicated teacher, Samant Guruji, revived the school’s faltering environment and reignited the students’ will to learn.Pakale eventually moved to Mumbai in search of better opportunities. In 1978, he joined the National Insurance Company. While working there, he turned to law not by grand design, but by circumstance. Balancing a full-time job with studies, he completed his LLB in 1980 and LLM in 1982. He began his legal career under labour lawyer A J Deshmukh, navigating financial pressures alongside professional ones. By 1985, he had shifted to the Bombay High Court, and within two years, he was handling significant cases, mentored by eminent figures including Dr Y V Chandrachud and K K Singhvi. What followed was a four-decade career defined by fighting for the underdog and winning.In the 1980s, Pakale took on one of the most consequential cases of his career. Between 1983 and 1989, nearly 70,000 teachers across Maharashtra had been appointed on an ad hoc basis through local selection committees, bypassing the legally mandated selection board process. When the government formalised six regional selection boards in February 1989 and began replacing these teachers with newly selected candidates, thousands of livelihoods were at risk.Pakale began with a case involving 54 teachers, secured a stay, and soon found teachers from across the state knocking on his door. The Bombay High Court’s Division Bench eventually directed the government to issue a single general order rather than address each case individually. The resulting government resolution extended relief to all affected teachers – approximately 70,000 people.Story continues below this adAround the same time, he represented 153 teachers, mostly from SC, ST, and backward communities, who had been appointed under a government scheme to address a teacher shortage in Pune’s remote tribal and hilly areas. The scheme allowed 12th-pass candidates to teach while completing their DEd qualification within five years. Within months, all 153 were terminated. Pakale challenged the terminations before the Bombay High Court, which ruled in their favour, ordering reinstatement and allowing them time to complete their qualifications. Many of those teachers have since retired from long and stable careers.Perhaps his most dramatic case involved around 950 teacher candidates in Pune who had scored below the cutoff in a selection board examination and been denied appointments. Pakale filed petitions on their behalf in batches before Chief Justice T K Thakker and Justice Y V Chandrachud, securing orders in their favour – orders that the authorities refused to implement.When Pakale filed a contempt petition, he received an anonymous phone call, wherein a person introduced himself as from one of the highest political offices, suggesting he was misleading poor people, as even the topmost authorities could not grant such appointments. His response was measured, “I am not giving the appointments. These are being granted under the orders of the High Court.”He stood firm. The matter went to the Supreme Court, where he prevailed, and all 950 candidates finally received their appointment orders.Source of supportStory continues below this adBehind this steady professional life stands his wife, Aruna, whom he married in 1985. “She is a homemaker and a constant source of support throughout my demanding career. My daughter, Gargi, is based in the United States, where she works in a finance company, and my son, Saurabh, is also a lawyer,” said Pakale.For over 40 years, Suresh Pakale built his career not on privilege but on persistence: one stay order, one petition, one teacher at a time. Recently, the Teachers’ Association for Non-Aided Polytechnics (TAFNAP) honoured him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by former Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, also a close friend. For a boy who once sold flowers at dawn to afford school, it was a fitting tribute.(Vaishnavi Gujar is an intern with The Indian Express)