Supreme Court issues new guidelines for Senior Advocate designations, removes marking system

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued fresh guidelines for conferring Senior Advocate designations upon lawyers [Jitender @ Kalla v. State of NCT of Delhi].The Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ujjal Bhuyan and SVN Bhatti ordered all the High Courts to amend the existing rules in accordance with today's judgment within four months.The Court said that it has got "rid of the marking system" as the same had not achieved desired results. "The decision to confer designation shall be of the Full Court of the High Courts or this Court. The applications of all candidates found to be eligible by the Permanent Secretariat, along with relevant documents submitted by the applicants, shall be placed before the Full Court, and the endeavour can be always made to arrive at consensus," the Court ordered..However, the Court added that if a consensus on designation is not arrived at, the decision-making must be by democratic method of voting."Whether in a given case there should be a secret ballot is a decision which can be best left to the High Courts to take a call, considering the facts and served as a given case," the Court further said.It also ruled that the minimum qualification of 10 years of practice needs no reconsideration.The practice of advocates submitted applications for grant of designation can continue, and can be treated as consent of the advocates concerned for designation, the Court said. However, the Court also said that the Full Court may consider and confer designation without an application.It further clarified that there is no scope for individual judges to recommend a candidate for designation. "In the scheme of Section 16(2), there is no scope for individual Judges of this Court or High Courts to recommend candidate for designation.".The Court on March 20 had reserved its judgment in the case which stemmed from a convict's plea seeking remission in a kidnapping case During the hearing of that matter, the Court had taken up the larger issue of false pleadings being signed off by AoRs after finding that certain facts had been suppressed in the convict's appeal. Later, Senior Advocate Rishi Malhotra's conduct had also come under scanner in the case. Consequently, the Court had also decided to look into the process of designating lawyers as senior counsel..The 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 v. Supreme Court.That verdict was rendered on a plea filed by Senior Advocate Indira Jaising seeking greater transparency and objectivity in senior designations.There have been calls for changes and tweaks to the judgment. At least four High Courts had submitted their suggestions earlier on the issue..Today, the top court said one exercise of designation should be undertaken every year. The process of designations already initiated shall continue on the basis of earlier decisions in Indira Jaising cases, it addedHowever, the Court clarified that any new process for designations shall not be initiated unless rules are framed by high courts in accordance with the latest guidelines.“It is obvious that even this court will have to undertake the exercise of amending the rules and guidelines in the light of this decision,” the Court added.While parting with the judgment, the Court stressed that every endeavor must be made to improve the system of designation by periodically reviewing the process. .[Read Judgment].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.