Supreme Court to consider 200 applications today for senior designation

The Supreme Court is slated to consider around 200 applications for conferment of the Senior Advocate designation today, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said on Tuesday. .The CJI added that the Court may rise early today on account of the same. This was conveyed by the CJI on Tuesday morning in open court. "We may not sit the whole day today. There are 200 candidates whom we are considering today for senior designation. We have to also rise early since we will see the listing of cases for tomorrow," CJI Chandrachud said..On a related note, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in August last year had urged the CJI and other Supreme Court judges to adopt a liberal approach while designating deserving and meritorious advocates as Senior Advocates. At the time, the association emphasized that due to a judicial challenge, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the senior designation process happened only once in the last eight years..Prior to this, the Supreme Court Advocate on Record Association (SCAORA) filed an application before the top court seeking a direction to the Committee for Designation of Senior Advocates (CDSA) to conclude the process of appointing senior advocates with regard to applications that were invited in February 2022In October 2023, the senior gown was conferred on three retired High Court judges, namely retired Justices Talwant Singh, Dr. S Muralidhar and PN Prakash. .In its 2017 decision in Indira Jaising, the top court had laid down criteria for Senior designations, applicable to all courts. These guidelines were modified to a limited extent in May 2023 by the Supreme Court, when the Court upheld the interview criteria but reduced the points given for the number of publication as a criterion. A three-judge bench of the Court also ruled that voting by judges for conferring the gown should not be by secret ballot except in exceptional circumstances.Pertinently, the Court added that the exercise of designating Seniors should be carried out at least once a year by the High Courts and the Supreme Court.The Court also directed that pending applications for senior gown have to be considered as per the modified directions of the top court in its May 2023 judgment.