HCS must consider lawyers practicing before the trial court, Senior Designated Court: SC
New Delhi: The Supreme Court said Tuesday that observing high-level names cannot be a monopoly for a few.
Justices Abhay S Oka, Ujjal Bhuyan and Svn Bhatti said the designation process must be objectively fair and guided and that designation must be made at least once a year.
“When we talk about diversity, we must ensure that the High Court is considered in our judicial and regional judiciary and professional courts to designate mechanisms because their roles are not as good as advocates practice in courts and in the High Courts, which is also an important part of diversity.”
The Supreme Court noted that the High Court has always called for the opinions of the chief district judges or the head of the court of such applicants.
It added: “In addition, the guardian/administrative judge’s view regarding the area’s guardian/administrative judge is always available when considering the case of advocates practicing in the district court.”
The bench released a new set of guidelines to grant advocates a senior designation as it cancels existing points-based assessments from the Supreme Court and the High Court.
The bench said its experience over the last seven and a half years shows that based on points, evaluating the ability to and advocates’ legal experience may not be rational or objective.
It requires the High Court to modify its existing rules under new directions within four months.
However, the Supreme Court said the minimum qualification for the 10-year legal practice was determined without reconsideration.
The Supreme Court further allows the act of filing an application to grant an advocate for a designated application to continue to designate consent.
