Kanhaiya Lal Misra

Profile Of Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Misra
Name: Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Misra
Birth Date: 31st August 1903
Death Date: 14th October 1975
Birthplace: Village Mariyadpur, Azamgarh, U.P., India
Occupation: Advocate General U.P.
Biography
Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Misra [31st August 1903 (Janmashtami) - 14th October 1975 (Dushehra)] was the fourth Advocate General of U.P., India from 1952 to 9th March 1969.
Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Misra was born in Maryadpur (a very backward area with no transportation links), district Azamgarh, U.P., India, on Krishna Janmashtami and was so named. He was the eldest of the four sons and one daughter of Pt. Baijnath Misra, a top lawyer at the Azamgarh bar and an M.L.C. for a long period of time. His father was an exceptional student who topped in his Matriculation and Intermediate Examination.
Pt. Kanhaiya Lal Misra too had a shinning education career. He never stood second. His basic schooling started at the village, then he went to Banaras (Varanasi) in the Theosophical School under Dr. Mrs. Annie Beasant. He graduated with honours in Economics in 1925 securing 91% marks in English. In 1926 he sat for the Indian Civil Service Examination and stood first and created a record by securing 150/150 in the English paper, a record that can never be broken. However due to his student day's speeches of freedom and his influence by Mahatma Gandhi he was not selected. In 1927 he passed his law Examination and joint the District Bar in 1928. In October 1930 he shifted to the Allahabad High Court.
He had a very good command of the Hindi, English and Urdu language.
In 1942 he was imprisoned during the freedom struggle in the Naini Central Jail along with Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, P. D. Tandon and others.
In 1951 he was offered Judgeship but on his request he was reluctantly not appointed.
He attained eminence in the legal field with his flare of advocacy, depth of learning, sweet trapping court craft, humility, and a photogenic memory. His simplicity and brilliance was his landmark.
In 1952 he was appointed Advocate General, U.P. and continued till 9th March 1969 irrespective of the political party which came to power during this period.
In 1955 he was offered Supreme Court Judgeship (being the first advocate to receive such distinction) without being a judge. He request then through the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court - B. Malik the then Chief Minister and Home Minister to leave him which again they did reluctantly. His reason was that he wanted to be in public life, serving many institutions and public.
He served various social, cultural and educational institutions. He was the Chairman of the Bar Council, President of the Bar Association of Allahabad, President of the Mehta Research Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics and as a member of its executive council, President of the Prayag Sangeet Samiti, President of the Hindi Sahitya Sammellan to name a few. He also had the honour to serve the Allahabad University as its Hon' Treasurar and as a member of its executive council.
He left the mortal body on 14th October 1975, on Dushehra, and was cremated with state honours.