No joint proposal by Senior Advocates required for Senior Designation, Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has done away with the requirement of a joint proposal by three Senior Advocates in order to apply for Senior designation.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Full Court of the High Court on August 1, 2019.

As per a Public Notice dated August 14, Rule 7 of  The High Court of Delhi Designation of Senior Advocate Rules 2018 shall now read as under:

“(7) Procedure for designation of an Advocate as Senior Advocate. An advocate may be considered by the High Court for being designated as Senior Advocate either (A) SuoMotu by the High Court. or (B) on an application by an Advocate.

(A) Procedure Suo Motu:
i. An Advocate who fulfils the eligibility conditions prescribed hereinbefore, may be considered suo moto by the High Court for being designated as a Senior Advocate either on the written proposal of a Judge of the High Court or of Hon’ble the Chief Justice of the High Court. 
ii. Such written proposal of a Judge or of Hon’ble the Chief Justice shall be sent to the Registrar General who shall forward it to the Secretariat after obtaining a consent-cum personal information sheet (Annexure-A to these Rules) duly filled in and signed by the Advocate concerned.

7(B) Procedure on application by an Advocate:’ Any Advocate who fulfils the eligibility conditions prescribed he.reinbefore may submit a written application for being designated as Senior Advocate to the Registrar General who shall forward it to the Secretariat after obtaining a consent-cum-personal information sheet (Annexure-A to these Rules) duly filled in and signed by the Advocate concerned.”

In view of the amendment, the High Court has afforded one more opportunity to advocates who are eligible and wish to apply for Senior gown to submit their applications.

The application, in the prescribed format, may be submitted to the Secretariat of the Committee for Designation of Senior Advocate latest by 4.30 PM on August 31, 2019.

It is also clarified that those Advocates who have already applied with or without the recommendation of three Senior Advocates need not apply again.

A Division Bench of former Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup J Bhambhani had stayed the operation of Rule 7 insofar as it called for a joint proposal by three Senior Advocates for a lawyer to apply for Senior designation. The order was passed pursuant to a petition by advocates Nandita Rao and Farrukh Rasheed, filed through Advocate Ruchi Singh, challenging the requirement of a joint proposal for the Senior gown.

The Petitioners had argued that the rule calling for a joint proposal is alien to the criteria for Senior Designations laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indira Jaising case and it left scope for arbitrary discretion, in violation of Articles 14,15,16 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

[Read Notice]