Renowned Indian lawyer Harish Salve will represent Vinesh Phogat in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing on Friday concerning her disqualification from the Paris Olympics. Salve, a former Solicitor General of India and King’s Counsel, told ANI that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has engaged him in this case. The ad-hoc CAS hearing will start at 9:00 AM Paris time (12:30 PM IST).

The CAS has constituted an ad hoc division in Paris, presided over by President Michael Lenard of the US, to take up matters during the Olympics. This ad hoc division would be based inside the judicial court of Paris in the 17th arrondissement. In a related development, Vinesh Phogat, who was disqualified from the final bout of the Paris Olympics, announced retirement from wrestling on Thursday.

Harish Salve’s Life: Three Marriages and High-Profile Celebrations

Harish Salve, born into a Marathi family in Maharashtra on June 22, 1955, followed his grandfather’s legacy in law. His father, K.P. Salve, worked as a chartered accountant, and his mother, Ambriti, was a doctor. Harish earned his law degree from Nagpur University, having previously completed a chartered accountancy course from ICAI. He also attended St. Francis De Sales School in Nagpur. He launched his legal career with a prominent firm and served as a lawyer at the Delhi High Court. From 1999 to 2002.

In 2023, at the age of 68, Harish Salve married for the third time. His first wife, Meenakshi, with whom he had two daughters, Sakshi and Sonia, divorced him in 2020 after a marriage of 38 years. In October 2020, he married his girlfriend, Caroline, but this marriage ended in 2021. Subsequently, in September 2023, he married his girlfriend Trina. This wedding made headlines not only because of his age but also due to the presence of notable guests like Nita Ambani, Lalit Modi, and Ujjwala Raut.

“The lawyers aren’t big expertise”

The lawyer is Harish Salve.
He is literally the highest paid and most sought lawyer of India.
He is a former Solicitor General of India.
He is a King’s Counsel.
He got us favourable judgement in Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

Rahul Gandhi fans are 🤦🏼‍♂️ https://t.co/oV2hpYV17Y pic.twitter.com/IVf9z56BGT

— Shashank Shekhar Jha (@shashank_ssj) August 8, 2024

Harish Salve: Prominent Lawyer Known For High-Profile Cases And Top Honors

High-profile cases dot the career of Harish Salve in law. He did his LLB from Nagpur University, and by 1992, he became the senior advocate at Delhi High Court. He had also been the Solicitor General of India from November 1999 to November 2002.

One of the famous cases he handled was that of Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was condemned to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage. In that, Salve charged only ₹1 as the cost of legal fees and he created much fanfare for it.

His other marquee list of clients includes the Tata Group, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, and the ITC Group. Salve represented in the Krishna Godavari Basin gas dispute case against Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.

Also Read: Neeraj Chopra’s First Reaction After Olympic Silver: ‘Today Was Arshad’s Day’

In 2012, he had one major victory with the tax case against the government on behalf of Vodafone for ₹11,000 crore.

He represented Keshub Mahindra during the Bhopal gas tragedy case and the Delhi police during the midnight crackdown on the supporters of Baba Ramdev.

In 2015, Salve was awarded the Padma Bhushan—one of India’s highest civilian honors. The same year, he represented Salman Khan in connection with the 2002 hit-and-run case and secured his acquittal from the Bombay High Court in December.

It was in 2018 that Salve had appeared in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Union government over the Cauvery water dispute. More recently, the courts of Wales and England appointed him as Queen’s Counsel in January last year.

Also Read: Vinesh Phogat’s Plea For Silver Medal Accepted By CAS; IOA Approaches Harish Salve