Senior Designations: Indira Jaising asks Bombay High Court to permit applications without recommendation letter

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising has written to Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta requesting deletion of a rule requiring advocates applying for senior designations to get recommendations from already designated seniors..In her letter, Jaising pointed out that the whole process behind her filing the petition (pertaning to senior designations) in the Supreme Court was to avoid such “getaways to justice” which do not allow people who wouldn’t otherwise get designated to be designated. “There are deserving people specially belonging to marginalised communities who would not get designated merely because they are not a part of the traditional old boys’ club of designated seniors. It is well known that such networks have thrived in the legal profession and the designation of a woman or a person belonging to a minority is still a rarity,” her letter stated..The designations were judged basis two systems: a point-based system in which the applicant was judged on the merits of his career; and on the basis of recommendations of two senior advocates produced by the applicants along with the application. Rule 5(e) of the Bombay High Court (Designation of Senior Advocates) Rules, 2018, provided for recommendations from senior advocates as a pre-requisite to the application.Jaising claimed that the the point system was self-contained, enabling the Court to evaluate to the merit of the applicant without a recommendation from any other person.“The two systems for applying on the basis of a recommendation and being evaluated on a point system are in contradiction to each other. Making such a recommendation from two senior counsels mandatory for even applying to be designated will create further hurdles for these groups to be designated,” the letter underscored..Jaising also submitted that prior to the Supreme Court's judgment passed in her petition, there were circumstances in which considerations other than merit acquired more weightage. In view of this, the judgment focused exclusively on an objective evaluation of the applicant. She thus requested the Chief Justice to delete the rule. She also urged him in the interim to permit the advocates to apply for designation without any recommendation letter..[Read letter]