What Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab & Haryana and Patna High Courts suggested in Senior designation case

From disbanding the point based system of assessing candidates being considered for senior designation to moving back to secret ballot voting among judges, four High Courts have submitted range of suggestions to the Supreme Court on the issue of reconsidering the process of designation of Senior Advocates..A three judge bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ujjal Bhuyan and SVN Bhatti had sought responses from all High Courts and other stakeholders on the issue of reconsideration of the senior designation process.The present procedure of conferring senior designations was put in place by the Supreme Court and various High Courts pursuant to the top court's 2017 judgment in the case of Indira Jaising vs. Supreme Court.There have been calls for changes and tweaks to the current process which the top court is now considering.The top court on February 20 observed that a "serious introspection" was required when it came to designating lawyers as senior advocates and referred the issue to Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna for deciding whether a larger bench should hear the matter..Four High Courts - Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab & Haryana and Patna - have now submitted their suggestions..Below is an overview of the important suggestions made by them..Delhi High Court.- Permanent committee and point system of assessment to be disbanded;- Designation of senior advocates would be by conferment and not by way of application;- Proposal for designation may be initiated by:(i) the Chief Justice, or(ii) any two sitting Judges of the High Court, or(iii) any two designated Senior Advocates with more than 5 years' standing after designation; subject to the condition that, in case of (iii), a designated Senior Advocate would be permitted to initiate the proposal for designation only for one advocate in a calendar year and any chronologically second proposal would be rendered invalid;- Designation would be decided by secret ballot in a meeting of the full court convened for the aforesaid purpose;-Votes in favour of a recommendee constituting 3/4th of those present and voting would suffice for the purposes of the proposal being viewed as having been accepted..Karnataka High Court.- 50 points marked for judgments can be fixed as 35 points, 25 points marked for personality and suitability on the basis of interview/interaction can be fixed as 20 points and remaining 20 points can be fixed for known integrity;- Relaxation of income criterion for women candidates;- Selection committee should be limited to sitting High Court judges and current Senior Advocates who possess a thorough understanding of the Bar; - The application process should have candidates give their consent for designation as Senior Advocates;- Active practice in court should be an essential requirement for designation. Mere theoretical knowledge is not sufficient;- An active practitioner does not have time to publish articles. Therefore, the present criteria of giving 15% marks for publication has to be done away with.The suggestions above were made by a panel of Justice Anu Sivaraman, Karnataka Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty and Senior Advocate Uday Holla..Punjab and Haryana High Court.- Standing of a lawyer cannot be gauged by merely reviewing judgments of cases where they have appeared, the articles or books they have published or through a brief interview;- Evaluation of lawyers for designation should be based on courtroom performance, which reflects an advocate's fairness, spontaneity, demeanor, articulation, clarity and legal knowledge;- Designation should not be limited only to the higher constitutional courts but also the trial courts. Judges can identify such advocates since those from judicial services, prior to elevation as Judge of High Court, worked in various districts and have the benefit of having seen various advocates practicing in trial courts and district courts;- High Court should retain full discretion in the designation process, which should be free from any fixed parameters.Patna High Court.No suggestions made since an amendment process to the existing High Court of Judicature at Patna (Designation of Senior Advocates) Rules, 2019 has already been initiated in line with Guidelines for Designation of Senior Advocates by the Supreme Court of India dated July 17,2023.