Hemant Batra

Hemant K. Batra (born 15 August 1967) is an Indian business, public policy, corporate and commercial lawyer.[3][4][16][17][5][18] He was the founder and counsel at Kaden Boriss Global, an alliance of independent and autonomous law firms and legal enterprises, founded in 2003 by Hemant Batra and Preeti Batra.[2][7][19] Hemant holds a position as the Secretary General[20] of SAARCLAW[21] (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law).[22] SAARCLAW is a regional Apex body of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). He has also authored several books on law and policy.[9][10][11][12][13]

Hemant K. Batra
Vice President, SAARCLAW[1] Apex Body of SAARC & Formerly Co-Founder Chairman, Kaden Boriss Global - Alliance of Independent and Autonomous Law Firms
Assumed office
2016
Preceded byJustice Tshering Wangchuk, Chief Justice of Bhutan
Personal details
Born (1967-08-15) 15 August 1967
Spouse(s)Preeti Wahi Batra[2]
Childrenson and daughter
ResidenceGurgaon, Delhi NCR, and New Delhi
Alma materGMHS 16, Chandigarh
Punjab University, Chandigarh
ProfessionLawyer[3][4][5][6][7][8]
Author
[9][10][11][12][13]
Philanthropist
Social Activist[14][15][16]

Hemant Batra withdrew from all active roles in Kaden Boriss law firm in 2016 and formally quit the law firm in 2019. He now independently practises law as an arguing Counsel in the Indian Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. He is seen now in the roles of arbitrator, mediator, conciliator, tutor of law and public policy. He is authoring books for Eastern Book Company.[23][24]

Kaden Boriss partnered with I-Inspire 2013, a national conference for women leaders, aiming to be a confluence of ideas, a convergence of thoughts and celebration of the spirit of diversity and entrepreneurship. He is also the chairperson of the Organizing Council of International Infrastructure & Construction Law Arbitration Moot (IICLAM)[25] and member of the advisory board of the Organisation for International Cooperation (OIC) based in New Jersey, US.[26] IICLAM[27] is a joint initiative of Kaden Boriss, National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), Singapore.[28] He is a recipient of the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Medal.[29] Batra took over as the chairman of the panel of jury for the grant of Aces Awards for Corporate Excellence and Sustainability in Asia.[30][31][32]

"We are committed to social justice and can play a key role in encouraging legal reforms and disseminating information on progressive decisions, related to human rights, across the legal community in South Asia," says Hemant Batra on UNDP website.[33]

Batra joined the advisory board of the pivotals, the first ever stakeholders engagement platform.[34][35][36] In his role as a policy specialist and global business lawyer, he was invited to join the leadership team of a well known not for profit organization called Goeman Bind HTO.[37][38][39][40][41][42]

Batra was appointed in July 2017 as an active member of the Union of International Associations (UIA), the only appointment from India that year.[43][44]

He established his music label called Urf Hekbat to accomplish his passion of playing, composing and arranging lounge and new age music. This fact was disclosed by him in an interview given to a well known lawyers monthly magazine. He is also a sound recording artist.[45]

Law and policy facet

Batra is associated with National Law University, Delhi.[46] Batra presented a paper on issues connected with WTO at the 10th SAARCLAW Conference held at Karachi on the theme, "Leap Forward - Next Generation Laws".[47][48] 20 February 2004 The first annual Asia Entrepreneurship Forum (AEF), organised by Enterprise Asia kicked off on 19 September 2012. Five hundred of the region's leading business leaders and industry thought leaders gathered in Macau, one of Asia's fastest growing cities to discuss the future of entrepreneurship in Asia. Hemant K. Batra, Secretary General at SAARCLAW spoke on legal and regulatory issues in mergers and acquisitions deals.[49][50][51]

Though not as a Secretary General of SAARCLAW but taking advantage of his standing in South Asia including Pakistan, he took up the issue of grant of mercy to the Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh (now deceased).[52] Batra has done substantial work for ensuring legal rights of people living with HIV and key populations at higher risk of exposure to HIV.[53]

Considered as one of the prominent authorities on cross-border issues connected with legal profession, he was invited by the Harvard Law School to share his thoughts with senior students on the Future Market for Corporate Legal Services in India.[54]

He has always mooted for opening up of the legal profession in India be it allowing foreign lawyers as well as showcasing. According to him medicine and law were once on the same footing as "noble professions" and as the corporatization of the medical profession has been permitted, the restrictions on lawyers are unjustified.[7] These views were expressed by him to the Live Mint and the Wall Street Journal.

Batra vociferously defended former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi in UK as well as in India.[55][56] Three leading publications captured his interview, namely, India Today, Daily Mail UK and Tehelka.

He recently mooted the idea of large scale repeal of laws. He supported and complimented the landmark initiative taken by the Narendra Modi Government in India in repealing obsolete laws. He also emphasized that repeal of laws is as significant as the passage of new laws.[57] He was one of the first set of legal experts who covered the legal aspects connected with Coronavirus or COVID-19.[58]

As Chairman of the Jury, Batra has propagated a policy change in the way businesses are run and managed. According to him a successful business goes beyond money making. Societal responsibilities are key to successful businesses.[59]

He highlighted and favoured the policy of Narendra Modi BJP Government in India regarding enhancement of traffic violation fines.[60]

Origin and background

Hemant was born in Hisar located in the Indian state of Haryana, to Veena Batra and G.L Batra who was the Additional Secretary in the Indian parliament[61] and Chairman of the Haryana State Public Service Commission. In 1988 he graduated with bachelor's degree in Humanities and in 1991 received his Bachelor of Law degree from Chandigarh Law faculty in Panjab University.[62] Hemant Batra and his wife Preeti Wahi Batra,[2] who is also a prominent commercial lawyer were interviewed by a leading international business magazine Outlook Money regarding changing trends in investing for the future of one's child. They have two children .[63] Hemant has a fetish for electronic gadgets and changes them every six months.[64]

Hemant started his law practice in the year 1991 with Solicitors - Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. Four years later he joined Kesar Dass B. & Associates[65] and by year 2000 became a managing partner of its corporate office. In 2003, he founded an independent international law firm named Kaden Boriss Legal. Kaden Boriss then became an alliance and network of independent/autonomous member law firms located in India, Australia and UAE. Each member firm and office having no financial relation with another.[66][67][68] A prominent Australian law firm LBR Legal merged its practice with Batra's law firm Kaden Boriss in 2010 when the Managing Partner of LBR Sunil Lal said that 'if you can't beat Indians then best way is to join them'.

Hemant has worked with many multinational firms such as Bayer, Suzuki, LG, Philip Morris (JV), Coca-Cola, Accor, Findel, AMEX, Western Union, ABB and Knight Frank. He has also been an advisor for various former Chief Justices of India, Senior Counsels and Members of the Indian Parliament.[69] On the social front Hemant associated with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNAIDS, and the World Bank by venturing into a very sensitive zone thereby discussing Human Rights Challenges Faced by Key Populations at Higher Risk of HIV.[70] He has always propagated the idea of Parents respecting the sexual preferences of their kids.[71] People find themselves so busy these days that they only have vague succession plans with no documentation. But irrespective of age (everyone) needs to keep his or her succession planning ready as death always comes unannounced, propagates Hemant Batra.[72] Recently, one eminent lawyer from Cornell described Hemant as one of the best brains in the corporate transactional legal work.[73]

He is Goodwill Ambassador to the World NGO Day, headquartered in London. The World NGO Day is an international calendar day held on 27 February every year. For stronger, better & more effective civil society worldwide through an international annual calendar day for NGOs, NPOs and CSOs.[74] WND Secretariat and SAARCLAW have entered into an MoU on 24 February 2012 to promote objectives of their respective organizations and also expand NGO horizons in India and the SAARC region.[75]

He was re-elected as the Secretary General of SAARCLAW on 12 April 2014 in Kathmandu when Indian and Pakistan came together to propose his name and Bangladesh/Bhutan seconded it.[76][77]

Hemant Batra as the Chairman of the prestigious panel of jury for the grant of Aces Awards for Corporate Excellence and Sustainability in Asia promoted the concept of excellence and sustainability in the corporate world terming it as integral part of good governance.[78][79][80] He has started propagating that the concept of corporate governance does not merely relate to management of the companies but also excellence and sustainability. He heads the prominent jury in Asia, which identifies global business leaders who have shown signs of good governance.[81]

Criticism

It is noticed that Hemant has been unnecessarily critical of newer legislation and even verdicts passed by courts of law.[82][83] As Secretary General of SAARCLAW, he made a controversial public statement that in south Asian region the parliamentarians were not able to meet up expectations of their people.[84]

He made a controversial statement in a leading English news paper The Tribune by expressing concern over the alleged ill-treatment of Mr Justice Rana Bhagwandas, the first Hindu to be appointed Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan, and his family members by immigration authorities at the Wagah border on 29 March 2006.[52] He also released a very controversial report in collaboration with UNDP seeking stronger legal protection for women in health care settings.[33] The report reflects many gaps in laws in South Asia and is very women specific and specific gender based thereby creating complete dissension amongst gender. This report has come under heavy criticism for being lope sided.

Batra just wants to be in news by speaking on contentious and critically controversial issues. In 2007, he had made a sweeping allegation against residents of big cities stating that they had load of unaccounted cash monies which they were investing in far off agriculture lands located in remote states. He said that their motive was to eventually blend their black monies with agriculture income. He branded such people as money launderers.[85] Batra was also quoted in The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for having said that "India is today the most isolated country within its region." This definitely was strong comment against India's foreign policy.[86]

During the 10th SAARC Chief Justices Conference, Hemant Batra made a sweeping statement regarding SAARCLAW's landmark achievement in getting 1 Million US$ grant[87] from Asian Development Bank. Some delegates from Bangladesh were critical of SAARCLAW getting into a subordinate position to ADB because of this grant.

He recently supported the move by Narendra Modi BJP Government in India regarding massive enhancement in fines and penalties related to traffic violations. Whereas generally in India people have been opposed to such arbitrary enhancement on the grounds that India is a developing country and this new measure will lead to more corruption on the Indian streets. Batra on the contrary supports BJP Government on the ground that even the neighbouring country Sri Lanka has enhanced penalties almost ten folds.[60]

Honorary positions
  • Elected Vice President of SAARCLAW (2016-2018)
  • Re elected Secretary General of SAARCLAW (2014-2016)[76][77]
  • Elected Secretary General of SAARCLAW (2011-2013)[88]
  • Vice President of SAARCLAW (2008-2010)[62]
  • Founder of AKNOI
  • Chairperson of IICLAM[62]
  • Expert-Observer for a hearing of the United Nation's Global Commission on HIV and the Law[89]
  • Member of the Advisory Board of Organization for International Cooperation (OIC)[90]
  • Member of leadership programme committee of ICAAP11[14]
  • Chairman of the panel of Jury of prestigious Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards (ACES)[91][81][59][92][93][94]
  • Active Elected Member of Union of International Associations (UIA)[44]
  • Law & Policy Specialist in Goeman Bind HTO, Think Tank[95][37]

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