Subhash C Kashyap – constitutional expert, renowned author, former secretary general of the Lok Sabha, and an expert associated with crucial government committees – passed away here on Thursday at the age of 97. He was ailing and bed-ridden for quite some time.
Born on May 10, 1929, Kashyap was a legal luminary with a tremendous range – his textbooks ‘Our Constitution: An Introduction to India’s Constitution and Constitutional Law’ and ‘Constitution of India: A Handbook for Students’ – were among the favourites for students of political science and law, as also for civil services aspirants.
But he donned several other caps too. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, Kashyap was a prominent member of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution and Chairman of its Drafting and Editorial Committee. He had also been Honorary Constitutional Advisor to the Government of India on Panchayati Raj Laws and Institutions — a key initiative of the early 1990s.
During the Modi government, Kashyap was a member of the high-level committee on simultaneous elections under the chairmanship of former President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
Kashyap’s erudition of law and the constitution was peppered with a razor sharp memory of the history of India’s Parliament.
In 2015, Kashyap was awarded the Padma Bhushan by then President Pranab Mukherjee.
He served as Secretary General of the seventh, eighth and ninth Lok Sabha. While addressing a gathering on the release of Kashyap’s Commentary on the Bhagwad Gita in Parliament House in May 2024, former Vice-President of India recalled that Kashyap had seen the return of Indira Gandhi to power after the Janata Party fell apart in the 7th Lok Sabha (1980-1984), the biggest single-party victory of 400-plus seats in the 8th Lok Sabha (1984-89) when Rajiv Gandhi stormed to power, and the “painful” coalition era from 1989, the 9th Lok Sabha (1989-1991).
Before serving as Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha (1984-1990), Kashyap headed the Centre for Innovation and Development in Parliaments (CIDP) at the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva.
He also left a legacy at the Lok Sabha secretariat during his time as Secretary General, recalls former Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary.
“He was a good administrator. The Lok Sabha Secretariat is structured on the basis of various services whereas there was only one stream that could go up to the top – the general services dealing with the House and legislative work. Only from here could one become Secretary General. The other services stagnated, and this was a deficiency,” Achary told The Indian Express. “But Kashyap integrated all these services at the director level, after which he created a common pool. He did not bother about the opposition. So, now people coming from other services also had a chance to reach the top, which was his foresight to reward talent from different services.” Underlining that he performed with consummate ease the daunting task of being Lok Sabha Secretary General, Achary said he would be missed by those who have known the institution for long.
Kashyap was awarded the honorary title and degree of Commander of Honorary Order of the Academy of San Francisco for services in the field of Constitutional Law. He received the Motilal Nehru Award twice, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship of 1996-98. He also received the Vidur Samman, the Rajiv Smriti Samman, and the Vidhi Seva Samman, among others.
