Challenge to Meghalaya HC Senior Designation Rules to be decided with Indira Jaising’s petition

The challenge to the Rules governing designation of Senior Advocates at the Meghalaya High Court will also be decided by the 3-judge Bench which heard Indira Jaising’s petition..A Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Sanjay Kishan Kaul today ordered that the matter be placed before Chief Justice Dipak Misra so that it can be listed before the 3-judge Bench..“An allied matter concerning designation of Senior Advocates of this court has been heard and reserved for judgment by a 3-judge Bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, Rohinton Nariman and Navin Sinha. It will be in the fitness of things to refer this matter to the 3-judge Bench”, ordered the Court..The aforementioned 3-judge bench had reserved its judgment in the two-year-old litigation filed by Senior Advocate Indira Jaising a few weeks ago..In her petition, Jaising had questioned the discrimination meted out to capable advocates when it comes to designations. She had alleged violation of Article 14 and 15 by the Supreme Court in the procedure followed for designating lawyers as Senior Advocates..She had also contended that the method of designation by vote leads to unhealthy lobbying with judges and victimizes ethical lawyers who do not lobby. Further, in her petition, she had taken a dig at the current crop of Seniors who hold sway over the Supreme Court practice, alleging that lack of transparency has led to a monopoly of a few Senior Advocates at the Bar..The other matter, which has now been tagged with Jaising’s petition, has its genesis in the designation of a Delhi-based advocate in 2014 by the Meghalaya High Court. The designation was allegedly made in violation of the Rules framed by the High Court itself..Things did not end there, as two more Delhi-based lawyers were made seniors a year later. This time, however, the High Court amended the criteria prescribed by the Rules, allegedly to facilitate the designations. Though the same was challenged in the Supreme Court, it did not stop the High Court from amending the Rules once again, so as to facilitate the designation of lawyers practicing elsewhere in India..In October last year, A Bench of Justices JS Khehar and Arun Mishra stayed the amendment and issued notice to the Meghalaya High Court, in a petition filed by Shillong High Court Bar Association.