Can lawyers who are not Senior Advocates argue case without vakalat? Kerala High Court to examine

The Kerala High Court will examine whether a lawyer, who is not a designated Senior Advocate, can argue a case before it without holding vakalat..Litigants execute vakalats authorising the lawyers chosen by them to appear in their cases. In normal practice, apart from the lawyers who hold vakalat, no other lawyer can argue in the case except for designated Senior Advocates who are instructed by the lawyers holding vakalat. The question to be decided by the High Court is whether it is only Senior Advocates who can appear without holding vakalat or any advocate not holding vakalat can also appear and argue before it..A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice S Manu will decide whether it is only Senior Advocates who can appear without holding vakalat or whether any advocate can appear after filing a memo of appearance or making a declaration. Specifically, the Court will be interpreting Rule 2 of the Rules framed by the High Court of Kerala under Section 34(1) of Advocates Act, 1961.Rule 2 reads thus:''Save as otherwise provided in any law for the time being in force, 'no advocate shall be entitled to appear, plead or act for any person in any Court in any proceeding unless the advocate files an appointment in writing signed by such person or his recognised agent and signed by the advocate in token of its acceptance: Provided that where an advocate has already filed an appointment in any proceeding, it shall be sufficient for another advocate, who is engaged to appear in the proceeding merely for the purpose of pleading, to file a memorandum of appearance or to declare before the court that appears on instructions from the advocate who has already filed his appointment in the proceeding: Provided further that nothing herein contained shall apply to an advocate who has been requested by the court to assist the court amicus curiae in any proceeding.''.The Court noted that the rule permits other advocates to appear "merely for the purpose of pleading" and said that it needs to decide whether "pleadings" include all the aspects related to conducting a case and making submissions."We need to interpret this rule. There are designated Senior Counsel before this Court. Can any class of lawyers who are not designated as a Senior Counsel can appear before this Court to make submissions and arguments without holding vakalath is a genuine doubt we have. What extent a lawyer can be allowed to be pleaded without filing vakalath is a question," the Court said. .The Court also sought the assistance of lawyers and directed that the order be circulated to the Kerala High Court Bar Association.Senior Advocate S Sreekumar and advocates Sreekumar Chelur, George Abraham and Deepu Thankan agreed to assist the Court..The question to be decided came to the notice of the Court while considering a case where advocate Aysha Abraham held the vakalat of a litigant. Abraham instructed advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy, who is the current President of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association, to appear on behalf her before the Kerala High Court.Shenoy is not a designated senior counsel.Hence, the Court asked whether he can be permitted to appear without a vakalat.Pointing to Rule 2, Shenoy argued that "pleadings" would include placing submissions on behalf of parties, as instructed by the counsel who holds vakalat. Shenoy submited that a memorandum of grievance regarding the lack of clarity in the Rules were placed before the Chief Justice but was turned down by the Grievance Committee of the High Court..The Court decided that the issue must be resolved and posted the matter for hearing on July 10."If the 'pleadings' include entire aspects related to conduct of a case and making submissions, no doubt Advocate Shenoy can be permitted to appear before this Court without filing vakalat. But the issue has to be resolved by this Court," the Court's order stated. .[Read Order]