{"id":42028,"date":"2024-08-21T09:05:29","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T03:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=42028"},"modified":"2025-05-01T03:28:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T21:58:49","slug":"supreme-court-designates-39-new-senior-advocates-under-revised-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/supreme-court-designates-39-new-senior-advocates-under-revised-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Designates 39 New Senior Advocates Under Revised Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Who are Senior advocates\/lawyers in India?<\/li>\n<li>What is Indira Jaising Case?<\/li>\n<li>New guidelines for designation of senior advocates in the SC<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Recently, the Supreme Court designated 39 lawyers, including 10 women, as senior advocates. Notable among them are Indra Sawhney, linked to the pivotal 1992 ruling capping reservations at 50%, Shadan Farasat, Additional Advocate General of Punjab, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, and Anindita Pujari, Vice-President of the Bar Association of India.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These designations were made under new guidelines issued by a three-judge Bench in May 2023, which revised the 2018 guidelines for granting the &#8216;senior advocate&#8217; designation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Who are Senior advocates\/lawyers in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Under Section 16 of the <i><strong>Advocates Act 1961<\/strong><\/i> two classes of advocates are classified; Senior Advocate and Junior or those who are not designated as seniors.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Senior advocates play the role of legal experts in India who have significant knowledge in the field of law.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>They are associated with many prominent cases as they are good contributors to the principle of Rule of Law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Legal provisions related to the Designation of Senior Counsel<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Section 16(2) of the <i><strong>Advocates Act, 1961<\/strong><\/i> and Rule 2(a) of <i><strong>Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 1966<\/strong><\/i> provide certain guidelines to be followed for the designation of a senior counsel.<\/li>\n<li>As per these provisions:\n<ul>\n<li>The Chief Justice and other judges of the concerned court should believe that a particular advocate is fit to hold the position of a senior advocate.<\/li>\n<li>The concerned advocate should have exceptional legal expertise and knowledge of the law.<\/li>\n<li>The consent of such an advocate should be obtained prior.<\/li>\n<li>The selection should be on the sole ground of his knowledge and expertise in the area of law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Restrictions imposed on a Senior Advocate<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>A senior advocate is not permitted to appear without an Advocate-on-record or any junior.<\/li>\n<li>He\/she is refrained from drafting pleadings or affidavits before any court or authority mentioned under Section 30 of the act.<\/li>\n<li>He\/she shall not accept directly from a client any brief or instructions to appear in any Court.<\/li>\n<li>A senior cannot file any pleading or represent his client neither can draft an application by his own handwriting.<\/li>\n<li>The senior advocate must maintain a code of conduct, different from the other advocates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What is Indira Jaising Case?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s first woman Senior Advocate Indira Jaising filed a petition in SC challenging the existing process of designation.<\/li>\n<li>She termed this process as opaque, arbitrary and fraught with nepotism and sought greater transparency in the process of designating.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, the Apex Court decided to lay down guidelines for itself and all High Courts on the process of designating senior advocates.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Verdict in Indira Jaising Case<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The judgment decided the setup:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>A permanent committee, and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>a permanent secretariat,\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Secretariat was tasked with receiving and compiling all applications for designation with relevant data, information, and the number of reported and unreported judgments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Besides creating permanent bodies, the verdict laid down the procedures and assessment criteria for the designation process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>New guidelines for designation of senior advocates in the SC<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Background<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In February 2023, the Central government sought to change guidelines for the designation of senior lawyers.\n<ul>\n<li>These guidelines were issued by the Supreme Court in the aftermath of its 2017 ruling in the case of \u2018Indira Jaising vs. Union of India\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The designation guidelines for lawyers are based on a point-based system, which awarded 40% weightage to publications, personality, and suitability gauged through the interview.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Centre argued that this system is subjective, ineffective, and dilutes the esteem and dignity of the honour being conferred traditionally.<\/li>\n<li>It pointed to the rampant circulation of bogus and sham journals where people can publish their articles without any academic evaluation of the contents and quality of the articles.<\/li>\n<li>The Centre also sought to reinstate the rule of a simple majority by a secret ballot, where the judges can express their views about the suitability of any candidate without any embarrassment.\n<ul>\n<li>The existing guidelines discouraged the system of voting by secret ballot, except in cases where it was unavoidable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>In this backdrop, SC released a new guideline in May 2023.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Key highlights of the new guidelines<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Minimum age to apply for the senior advocate designation<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The new guidelines prescribe the minimum age as 45 years to apply for the \u2018senior advocate\u2019 designation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This age limit may, however, be relaxed by the Committee, the Chief Justice of India, or a Supreme Court judge if they have recommended an advocate\u2019s name.\n<ul>\n<li>The 2017 guidelines say that the CJI along with any judge can recommend an advocate\u2019s name for designation.<\/li>\n<li>However, the 2023 guidelines specify that the <strong>CJI along with any Judge of the Supreme Court<\/strong> may recommend in writing the name of an advocate for designation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Marks set aside for publications<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier, the guidelines stated that 15 marks were set aside for publications.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, the new guidelines state that only 5 marks will be given for:\n<ul>\n<li>publication of academic articles, experience of teaching assignments in the field of law, and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>guest lectures delivered in law schools and professional institutions connected with law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weightage given to reported and unreported judgements<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The weightage given to reported and unreported judgements (excluding orders that do not lay down any principle of law) has increased from 40 to 50 points in the new guidelines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What are the key highlights of the 2023 guidelines for senior advocate designation?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The 2023 guidelines include a minimum age requirement of 45, reduced marks for publications, and increased weightage for reported and unreported judgments, making the process more structured.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Q.2. Who are some notable lawyers recently designated as senior advocates by the Supreme Court?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Notable designees include Indra Sawhney, known for the 1992 reservation ruling, Shadan Farasat, Punjab&#8217;s Additional Advocate General, and BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/process-for-designating-senior-advocates-9515705\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">What is the process for designating senior advocates, how has it changed<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/legal\/article-2090-senior-advocates-section-16-advocate-act-1961.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Legal Service India<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/senior-lawyer-designation-sc-hear-plea-implementation-verdict-guidelines-6582903\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Indian Express<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about the Supreme Court&#8217;s recent designation of 39 lawyers as senior advocates, including 10 women. Discover the new 2023 guidelines that revised the senior advocate designation process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}