SC dismisses plea challenging designation of lawyers as senior advocates
Oct 16, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 16 : The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea challenging the practice of designating lawyers as senior advocates and said that the classification cannot be said to be unreasonable.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul also pulled up one of the petitioners, saying the plea is a "misadventure".
The court said that the mechanism to grant seniority is not arbitrary and unreasonable. The top court dismissed the petition by a group of lawyers including Mathews Nedumpara.
The petitioners challenged the practice of designating advocates as senior advocates under sections 16 and 23(5) of the Advocates Act, 1961, as well as under Rule 2 of Chapter IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013.
The petition said the practice creates a special class of advocates with special rights, privileges and status not available to ordinary advocates and called it unconstitutional, being violative of the mandate of equality under Article 14 and the right to practice any profession under Article 19, as well as the right to life under Article 21.
