MP (7 February 1933 – 5 February 2015) (known as K. N. Choksy) was a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka
.
He was
D. B. Wijetunga
and was a member of parliament from 1989 to 2010 continuiosly.
Early life
Kairshasp N. Choksy belongs to the small, yet well established and respected, Parsi community of Sri Lanka, of which he was the Anjuman former chairman. He was born in Colombo on 7 February 1933. His paternal grandparents had migrated to Colombo from
Parsi
family.
His maternal grandparents were also settled in Colombo, in the export-import trade in food-commodities. They donated the building and land called "Navroze Baug", which is the religious centre of the Colombo Parsi residents.
Kairshasp's father,
Queen's Counsel
in 1947, and later served as a Judge of the country's Supreme Court from 1951. With the enactment of Sri Lanka's Citizenship Laws after the Country's independence in 1948, Nariman Choksy found himself (and a few other well established settlers of Indian origin) as becoming "stateless". Upon this being brought to the notice of the incumbent Government, a law was enacted by Parliament in 1950 under which Nariman Choksy qualified for citizenship as a "Distinguished Citizen" of the Country.
K.N Choksy, Mrs. Choksy, son Vishtasp & his wife Sirini
Legal career
Choksy received his primary education at
President's Counsel
in 1981. He appeared as lead-Counsel on one side or the other in many a civil Cause-celebre.
During the period 1989 to 1992, he successfully defended the country's President Ranasinghe Premadasa, as his Senior-Counsel, in a Petition filed seeking to annul the President's election. The case took 525 days of hearing before five Judges of the Supreme Court, with 911 witnesses testifying.
Political career
He entered the Sri Lanka Parliament in February 1989 as a nominated Member on the
National List
. The Sri Lankan Constitution makes provision for a limited number of such appointments, so that the Professional and Academic communities could find representation in the Legislature without having to contest at elections.
He held office in Parliament as Minister for Constitutional Affairs and State Affairs from 1993 to 1994, and thereafter as the Country's
Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004. Choksy was a Member of Parliament
from 1989 to 2010 continuiosly.
Family
Choksy is married to Freny (née Cooper) from
Bombay. They have three sons. The eldest, Jamsheed, is Professor of Central Eurasian Studies and History and Director of Middle Eastern Studies. He is a scholar in Zoroastrianism and has published several books on religion. The second son, Khursheed, is executive director at the United States Chamber of Commerce
in Washington. The third son, Vishtasp, has taken to the family tradition of the Law and practices as a Lawyer in Colombo, the third generation of Choksys to excel in his chosen profession.
