Trial court lawyers must be considered for senior designation by HCs: SC

Observing senior designation couldn't be a monopoly of selected few, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said lawyers practising in subordinate judiciary and other fora must be considered for designation as senior advocates.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Ujjal Bhuyan and S V N Bhatti said the process of designation must be objectively fair and guided and there is a need to have at least one exercise of designation conducted every year.

"When we talk of diversity, we must ensure that the high courts evolve a mechanism by which the members of the bar practising in our trial and district judiciary and before specialised tribunals are considered for designation as their role is no inferior to the role played by advocates practising before this court and high courts. This is also an essential part of diversity," it said.

The top court noted the high courts could always call for the views of the principal district judges or the heads of tribunals on such applicants.

"Moreover, when the cases of the advocates practising in district courts are considered, the views of the guardian/administrative judges of the district concerned are always available," it added.

The bench has issued a new set of guidelines for grant of senior designation to advocates as it did away with the existing point-based assessment by the top court and high courts.

The bench said its experience in the last seven-and-a-half years showed it might not be rationally or objectively possible to assess caliber standing at the bar and the legal experience of advocates applying for senior designations on the basis of points.

It asked the high courts to amend their existing rules in line with the new set of directions within four months.

The apex court, however, said the minimum qualification of 10 years of law practice fixed needed no reconsideration.

The top court further allowed the practice of advocates filing their applications for the grant of designation to continue as it indicated consent on their part.