(Late) Barrister Hotchand Gopaldas Advani

1. Mr. Advani was one of the pioneers in educational field. Soon after the partition of the country, he realised that there was a dire need to provide educational facilities to the students of poor refugee parents, who migrated to India in the wake of partition of the country and were lodged in ‘Refugee Camps’ in Mumbai & Kalyan [Now Ulhasnagar]. His strong and compassionate personality enable him to approach ‘rich’ to contribute generously towards setting up Educational Institutions for refugee Sindhi students.
2. In association with Principal K.M. Kundnani, he set up the first college, namely National College at Bandra, Mumbai in 1948. Then came K.C. College, K.C. Law College and in the next 40 years he set up string of other colleges, virtually in every discipline in Mumbai and Ulhas Nagar under the aegis of the Hybderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board.  He was also President of other Educational Boards, like Sind Educationist’s  Associtation, which owns famous Jai Hind College, Mumbai.

Rehabilitation Efforts:

1. Jai Hind Co-operative Bank:
   With a view to mitigate the suffering of Sindhi community, which was left ‘high & dry’ consequent to their migration to India, one of their dire need was ‘money’, particularly to buy houses in Co.op. Hsg. Societies. He along with a few others like minded Sindhis, started Jai Hind Co-operative Bank, which helped Sindhis by granting personal loans to buy property. Although Reserve Bank prohibited grant of loans for personal property, Mr.Advani with his legal acumen worked around the ‘Rules’ and continued granting personal loans for buying houses.
2. Sindhu Resettlement Corporation:
   He took over as Chairman of ‘Sindhu Resettlement Corporation, which was responsible for developing the township of Gandhidham in Kutch (Gujarat) and relentlessly pursued his effort in providing homes and  jobs to the displaced Sindhis.

As Lawyer:
Mr. Hotchand Advani was a lawyer by profession and had distinguished career at Bar for over 5 decades.He worked assiduously with amazing regularity & photographic memory. He was amongst the most respected counsels in Mumbai. He was known for his openness and friendliness with all members of Bar. He had also established magnificent library of Law Books, which was frequently referred to by others. Bar. Advani had built for himself flourishing practice and a part of his income was spent for downtrodden and needy members of Sindhi community.

1. Bar. Advani was offered Ambassadorship by the Govt. of India, a rare honour, but declined to accept it, due to over riding consideration of his actively helping Sindhi community at that critical juncture.
2. Bar. Advani was deeply religious person, but this did not necessarily mean, his association with religious functions or temples.  It was ‘spiritualism’ that governed his outlook in life.  His spiritual mentor was Dada Jashan Vaswani of Sadhu T.L. Vaswani Mission in Pune.
3. In his death in May 1991, Sindhi community lost a Rare Gem and one of the Builders of Sindhi community in the post-partition era.

Barrister Hotchand Advani was a versatile genius and above all, an incarnation of humanism. He was a brilliant advocate. He served the Sindhi Community in various ways and especially by opening many colleges in association with Principal K. M. Kundnani.

He had a magnetic personality. Alongwith other friends, he started Jai Hind Co-operative Bank and helped Sindhis to borrow money, so that they could build their own houses. This was the dire need of Sindhis, who had lost everything in Sind, in the wake of partition. He headed many trusts in India and abroad. His love for Sindhi language was well known. He was instrumental in starting Hindustan [Sindhi Daily] and Hindvasi [Sindhi Weekly].