Yesterday, the Bombay High Court designated a total of eleven lawyers as Senior Advocates, two from Nagpur and the rest from Bombay..The newly designated Senior Advocates include a former Additional Judge of the High Court, an ex-President of the ITAT Bar Association and two former Presidents of the Nagpur High Court Bar Association..The list of lawyers who have been designated is given below:.Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, a former additional Judge of the Bombay High court had resigned from the Bench in November, 2008 due to differences in the appointments of judges from the Bar and the lower judiciary. According to this report, Kumbhakoni had joined the Bench “under protest” after six members of the lower judiciary were issued their warrants a day before Kumbhakoni and another Bar-appointee. This was in contravention of the established practice of first appointing Bar-appointees followed by appointments from the lower judiciary..Rahul Narichania has built a practice around shipping and maritime laws, commercial litigation while also appearing before the writ jurisdiction of the High Court..Dr. K Shivaram was both the Vice President as well as the President of the ITAT Bar Association, a post that was once occupied by none other than Senior Advocate Nani Palkiwala..Beni Chatterji has also appeared in a number of taxation matters, most recently appearing on behalf of the tax authorities in the Vodafone tax row before the Bombay High Court. He had also represented Western Railways in a PIL seeking better amenities for the differently abled at railway stations..Last week, AV Bukahri had appearered before a Division Bench of the High Court on behalf of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra, seeking a stay on the release of the film, “Ya Rab”.Anand Jaiswal practices in the Nagpur Bench of the High Court and was the President of the Nagpur High Court Bar Association (HCBA). Another Nagpur lawyer to be made Senior is Anil Maridikar, who was also the former President of the Nagpur HCBA..Mukesh Vashi is the son of MP Vashi, a lawyer who had filed a number of public interest litigations for the greater welfare of lawyers as well as improving the standards of the legal community..The other lawyers who have been given the senior gown include Jayaprakash Sen, Gaurav Joshi and Anil Anturkar..The absence of a single woman lawyer in this list is not too surprising given the trends observed in connection with the Bombay High Court. Of the eighty-one designations that took place between 1991 and 2000, only three were women. When asked about this in an interview with Bar & Bench, Senior Advocate Rajani Iyer said that,.“Whatever be the reason, there is perhaps an inbuilt resistance [to women lawyers]….there are colleagues at the Bar who have faced it but also overcome it. … It could be better, I don’t deny that. If they can be appointed as judges then they can be equally appointed as senior. But that is not happening.”.(HT to Bar & Bench reader Pratik for the tip)
Yesterday, the Bombay High Court designated a total of eleven lawyers as Senior Advocates, two from Nagpur and the rest from Bombay..The newly designated Senior Advocates include a former Additional Judge of the High Court, an ex-President of the ITAT Bar Association and two former Presidents of the Nagpur High Court Bar Association..The list of lawyers who have been designated is given below:.Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, a former additional Judge of the Bombay High court had resigned from the Bench in November, 2008 due to differences in the appointments of judges from the Bar and the lower judiciary. According to this report, Kumbhakoni had joined the Bench “under protest” after six members of the lower judiciary were issued their warrants a day before Kumbhakoni and another Bar-appointee. This was in contravention of the established practice of first appointing Bar-appointees followed by appointments from the lower judiciary..Rahul Narichania has built a practice around shipping and maritime laws, commercial litigation while also appearing before the writ jurisdiction of the High Court..Dr. K Shivaram was both the Vice President as well as the President of the ITAT Bar Association, a post that was once occupied by none other than Senior Advocate Nani Palkiwala..Beni Chatterji has also appeared in a number of taxation matters, most recently appearing on behalf of the tax authorities in the Vodafone tax row before the Bombay High Court. He had also represented Western Railways in a PIL seeking better amenities for the differently abled at railway stations..Last week, AV Bukahri had appearered before a Division Bench of the High Court on behalf of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra, seeking a stay on the release of the film, “Ya Rab”.Anand Jaiswal practices in the Nagpur Bench of the High Court and was the President of the Nagpur High Court Bar Association (HCBA). Another Nagpur lawyer to be made Senior is Anil Maridikar, who was also the former President of the Nagpur HCBA..Mukesh Vashi is the son of MP Vashi, a lawyer who had filed a number of public interest litigations for the greater welfare of lawyers as well as improving the standards of the legal community..The other lawyers who have been given the senior gown include Jayaprakash Sen, Gaurav Joshi and Anil Anturkar..The absence of a single woman lawyer in this list is not too surprising given the trends observed in connection with the Bombay High Court. Of the eighty-one designations that took place between 1991 and 2000, only three were women. When asked about this in an interview with Bar & Bench, Senior Advocate Rajani Iyer said that,.“Whatever be the reason, there is perhaps an inbuilt resistance [to women lawyers]….there are colleagues at the Bar who have faced it but also overcome it. … It could be better, I don’t deny that. If they can be appointed as judges then they can be equally appointed as senior. But that is not happening.”.(HT to Bar & Bench reader Pratik for the tip)
