The Delhi High Court has modified its one-member-one-chamber rule [Read order]

A Delhi High Court Division Bench of S Ravindra Bhat and Siddharth Mridul, JJ. recently modified it’s October 2016 judgment relating to the one member one chamber system..According to the October 2016 ruling, an advocate who has a chamber in any court in Delhi became disqualified to apply for a chamber in any other court complex in the National capital..An application was filed before the special bench last week, seeking clarification and modification of this ruling..The petitioners urged that the ruling was restrictive and ought to be suitably modified so as to reflect the intention of the court which was to ensure that nobody enjoys the benefit of two chambers. The contention of the petitioner was that if a lawyer wanted to surrender his existing chamber and get a new chamber, the order of the court would be a hindrance..The court found merit in the contentions of the petitioners and agreed to modify paragraph 52(b) of the judgment. According to the modified para,.“No Advocate who has been allotted a chamber in any Court complex, or has constructed or owns any chamber in the Tis Hazari or any other Court complex shall be allotted another chamber in any Court complex unless the advocate duly surrenders the said chamber being held by her/him when a chamber is offered for allotment in accordance with the seniority in the List of Members awaiting Chamber Allotment.”.The Bench also directed each applicant to furnish a declaration that they have not been allotted any chamber in any court or that they are ready to surrender it. False declarations shall entail cancellation of the allotment and removal of the advocates’ names from the list..Read the full order here.