After a brilliant academic career in India Shri N.C. Chatterjee went to London and took his Barrister-at-Law from the Middle Temple standing first in the Bar Examination.  Returning to India he set up a flourishing practice in Calcutta and soon acquired a reputation as a leading lawyer.  He appeared in different courts including the Privy Council.  He was appointed a judge of the Calcutta High Court, but resigned his position in 1949 because of the proposed provision in the draft Constitution of India that a retired judge will not be able to practice anywhere in India.
Shri Chatterjee was from the beginning interested in the public and political affairs of the country.  He was closely associated with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and before the latter escaped from house-arrest and left India in cognito he had sent for Shri Chatterjee and had discussions with him.  In the first Lok Sabha elections he contested and won from Burdwan Constituency with the support of the Communist Party of India.  He was also member of the third and fourth Lok Sabha.

As a member of Parliament Shri Chatterjee's contributions were noted by the whole nation.  He was a firm believer in Parliamentary democracy, and though a leading opposition member he was a stickler for the observance of parliamentary decorum and the rules of the procedure.  In the first Lok Sabha he declared:  "I am not one of those who believe in opposition for the sake of opposition" and he stated emphatically that "Mere obstruction will lead us nowhere".  In 1966 when disturbances occurred in the Lok Sabha he cautioned the House " . . . . the functioning of parliamentary democracy would be impossible unless we put a stop to these very unfortunate and depressing incidents."  His approach to parliamentary work was constructive and he made important contributions from the floor of the House as well as in the Committees.

Shri N.C. Chatterjee was a champion of civil liberties and the freedoms of the people.  In 1952 when the Preventive Detention (Second Amendment) Bill was debated in Lok Sabha, he along with Shri A.K. Gopalan argued powerfully against it pointing out that there was no emergency in the country to justify such a legislation.  His speech on the Bill was described by the "Amrit Bazar Patrika" as an "outstanding speech" and as "one of the best orations in Parliament. . . . noted for its richness of content, its forcefulness of argument and its emotional appeal."

His participation in the work of the Parliament and its Committees was full-blooded and productive.  As a member of the Business Advisory Committee of Lok Sabha he pleaded for the allocation of time to discuss the activities of the Ministry of Law.  The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs expressed surprise at this suggestion and said:  " . . . nothing like that has happened in the history of the legislature;  never has there been a debate on the Law Ministry.  What is this new innovation Mr. Chatterjee is going to introduce?"   The question was later referred to Prime Minister Nehru who observed:  "Now that Mr. N.C. Chatterjee is there, I am afraid, one must make some allocation (of time) for that."

Thus through his initiative, the Ministry of Law was brought under the parliamentary scrutiny.  This led to important consequences.  Shri Chatterjee had a vision of India in which law played a crucial role.  His ambition was to bridge the gulf between law and life.  He considered law a dynamic instrument incessantly to be used for the upliftment of society, and not as "the command from a political superior to a political inferior".  In the first Lok Sabha he sponsored a proposal to set up a Law Commission to reshape and reformulate our laws which were framed during the colonial rule, and were unsuited to the needs and priorities of independent India.  The proposal was accepted by the Law Minister. 

After the Law Commission was set up, he followed its activities closely and during debates in House appealed to the Law Minister for its proper functioning bringing our laws in consonance with the latest norms and developments in the legal field.  Shri Chatterjee was deeply concerned with the independence of our judiciary.  In order to ensure this he pleaded that the British tradition of putting the judiciary with the Home Ministry should be discarded and that the Law Ministry should be given this charge.  Shri Chatterjee thus played a role in the effective separation of the judiciary from the executive.

In 1964 the Government was considering the Constitution 18th Amendment Bill which aimed at curbing disruptive activities.  Legal experts like N.C. Chatterjee argued that the Bill will result in the restriction of the fundamental rights also.  Prime Minister Nehru listened to the arguments of the jurists and decided not to pursue the Bill.  Referring to this decision of the Prime Minister Shri Chatterjee said:  "That was the greatest tribute that could be paid to democracy and parliamentary government."

Shri Chatterjee was not interested in legal issues only.  He was deeply interested in basic issues concerning the nation.  This was evident when he moved no-confidence motion against the Government of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri and wanted a clear and categorical statement from the Prime Minister that there would be no deviation from the policies of Jawaharlal Nehru with regard to the unity and territorial integrity of India.

Shri Chatterjee was concerned with social issues central to the health and sanity of the nation.  He participated effectively in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Untouchability Offences Bill in 1955 and also in the Parliamentary debates on the Bill.  He characterized untouchability as "the national problem of the first magnitude".  He said that merely passing the Bill would be of no avail unless concrete steps were taken to implement it.  He suggested that free legal aid be given to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes so that they could realise their rights in practice.  Probing into the root cause of social and political unrest in the country he remarked on one occasion "There would have been no Naxalbari if we would have been very fair to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes."  Shri N.C. Chatterjee was a great parliamentarian and jurist with a social vision.  I have great pleasure in joining you all in paying my tribute to his memory.

Thank you