The Supreme Court today observed that the Delhi High Court appears to have rejected eligible candidates while recently conferring senior designation on 70 lawyers [Raman Gandhi v. Registrar General, High Court of Delhi & Anr]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan has asked the High Court Registrar General to seek instructions in the matter. The Court has sought a response from the High Court on whether it is possible to consider granting the senior gown to the candidates who appear to be eligible, but were not designated. "There are a number of eligible candidates, there are only certain number of candidates designated. Is the High Court willing to consider cases of remaining candidates by placing it before the full court?" Justice Oka asked. "I'll take instructions," assured the counsel representing the High Court's Registrar General. "Otherwise, we will have to go into this. We have an affidavit (from a lawyer who was a member of the Senior Advocate Designation Committee) which indicates the manner in which the process was conducted," Justice Oka added. .The Court was hearing a plea by Advocate Raman Gandhi seeking the quashing of a recent decision by the full court of the Delhi High Court to confer senior designation on 70 lawyers. The High Court had interviewed 302 lawyers for the same.However, the decision became mired in controversy after one of the members of the permanent committee, Senior Advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, resigned over claims that the final list was prepared without his consent.The permanent committee is a body which shortlists the candidates to be designated. This list is then sent to the full court which takes the final call.The permanent committee of the Delhi High Court includes Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya, Justice Vibhu Bakhru, Justice Yashwant Varma, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, and Senior Advocates Mohit Mathur and Sudhir Nandrajog.According to sources, Nandrajog, also a representative of the Delhi government, did not sign the final list which was circulated to the full court for deliberation, as he was busy in an arbitration during the relevant period. It was also claimed that the final list was not the list that was decided upon and that the original list was tampered with..On February 17, the Supreme Court issued notice on the plea challenging the November 2024 designations and sought the response of the Delhi High Court's Registrar General, who was also ordered to submit a copy of the senior designation committee's report in a sealed cover. Notably, the Court also sought the response of Nandrajog, who had stepped down from the permanent committee. Nandrajog filed his response in a sealed cover, in light of which the Court has passed its order today. The Court has also directed that copies of Nandrajog's affidavit be shared with the counsel representing the High Court's Registrar. The matter is listed for hearing next on April 4. "After you read the affidavit you'll get an idea what we are suggesting. Those whose (candidature) are rejected and they are eligible candidates - those cases be discussed again before the full court," Justice Okay added. .[Read Live Coverage].[Read Order]
