In a significant move, the Supreme Court on Tuesday has issued a new guideline for designating senior advocates, replacing the existing marking-base evaluation system, Live Law reported.
The marks-based assessment system for senior advocate designation was established by the Supreme Court through two landmark judgments delivered in 2017 and 2023 in the Indira Jaising case.
A special bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka, Ujjal Bhuyan, and SVN Bhatti ruled that the current system for designating senior advocates, which evaluates candidates based on factors like years of practice, reported judgments, publications, and interviews, will cease to apply to future designations, as per the Live Law.
The apex court emphasised the need for diversity and representation, especially for advocates practising in trial courts, and said that new rules should be framed accordingly.
The Supreme Court has directed all high courts to formulate new rules in line with its guidelines within a period of four months.
According to the order, decisions on designating senior advocates will be made by the full court of the Supreme Court or the respective high court. Applications deemed eligible by the permanent secretariat, along with supporting documents, must be presented to the full court for consideration
The Supreme Court said that the court nominating senior citizens should aim at building a consensus and if that is not possible then the democratic method of voting should be adopted.
The Supreme Court order comes after a hearing in March this year in which several lawyers had raised concerns about the fairness and transparency of the current system for appointment of senior advocates, particularly the importance given to brief interviews held for applicants and the alleged inconvenience caused to lower court lawyers.
