Karnataka Senior Advocate designation controversy reaches Supreme Court; To be taken up on September 15

The Karnataka lawyers, who had challenged the recent Senior advocate designations made by the Karnataka High Court (High Court), have approached the Supreme Court against the August 4 order of the High Court..The lawyers TN Raghupathy and M Veerabhadraiah have moved the Supreme Court independently – Raghupathy vide a Special Leave Petition (SLP) and Veerabhadraiah vide Transfer Petition..When the SLP filed by Raghupathy came up for hearing today, a three judge Bench presided by Chief Justice RM Lodha tagged both the matters and posted it for September 15..Raghupathy had challenged the senior designations in the High Court on the ground that the High Court norms permitting advocates to apply for being designated Senior are against the language and spirit of Section 16 (2) of the Advocates Act, 1961 (ACT). Veerabhadraiah, had however, contended that the designations were made before the newly drafted rules in this regard were put in place..When the matter was heard by a Bench of the High Court presided by the Chief Justice, both the Petitioners had requested the High Court to transfer the matter to another Bench comprising judges who had not participated in the proceedings relating to the designation of Senior lawyers. The said request was rejected by the High Court which also observed in its order that the Petitioners did not have the locus standi to agitate the matter..In the SLP before the Supreme Court, Raghupathy has assailed the said High Court order and has sought for staying the notifications of the High Court by which the Senior designations were made..Veerabhadraiah, in his transfer petition, has sought for withdrawing the case from the Karnataka High Court and transferring it to any other neighboring State’s High Court for a free and fair trial..When the matter came up for hearing yesterday, Chief Justice RM Lodha said that though the matter was one which he “loved”, it was no longer valid today..“You are raising an issue which, of course I, love…..But where are we going now, where have we already gone, which point have we reached. We are now hearing about “application method” for appointment of judges.” .When the Bench was informed of Veerabhadraiah’s transfer petition – which was taken up in court room 11 and adjourned – Justice Lodha directed that Veerabhadraiah’s petition be transferred to the Chief Justice’ Bench and posted both the matters for September 15.