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Dated: 29/04/2015

To,
Chief Justice of India and all other
Companion judges of the Full Court
of the Honble Supreme Court

Dear Chief Justice and other Judges of the Full court,


I write to you on a matter of great concern to the Bar in India
You have on 23.04.2015 designated five persons as Senior Advocates of
this Court.
The provisions of Sec 16 the Advocates Act of 1961 read as:
16.

Senior and other advocates.(1) There shall be two classes of


advocates, namely, senior advocates and other advocates.

(2)

An advocate may, with his consent, be designated as senior


advocate if the Supreme Court or a High Court is of opinion that by
virtue of his ability standing at the Bar or special knowledge or
experience in law he is deserving of such distinction.

(3)

Senior advocates shall, in the matter of their practice, be subject to


such restrictions as the Bar Council of India may, in the interest of
the legal profession, prescribe.

(4)

Not relevant..

(The underlined portion in Sub Sec 2 was added by the


Amendment Act of 1973)

As I see it, the purpose of designation is to further the administration of


justice by improving the quality of argumentation at the bar in terms of
inputs from seniors with experience and or expertise in special branches
of law.

That apart, seniors are expected to present the case

dispassionately before the Court rather than advance any unsustainable


point of view. All this is in public interest and the act of designation is not
meant to be a largess given by the Judges for individual advancement of
a particular lawyer.
The designation is not the privilege of those who handle regular criminal
or civil SLPs on Mondays and Fridays running from court to court. There
seems to be an unwritten bias against lawyers who do PIL in
Environmental law or Human Rights law cases and those who have
domain expertise in the specialized subjects such as International
Arbitration, Inter State Water Disputes, Cyber law, etc. Unlike general
practitioners who appear regularly, these lawyers appear in the subjects
of their expert calling, but that does not mean that they are not fit for
designation, quite the contrary, their special knowledge enhances the
quality of justice dispensed by the court. It was in recognition of the
importance of these considerations, that the law was amended in 1973.
The Honble Supreme Court, as a convention, granted designation based
on the recommendation made by minimum of five sitting Judges. The Full
Court accepted the wisdom of five Judges as evidence of the suitability of

the candidate for designation. But, it appears, the convention has been
departed from in the recent designations and in its place, a system of
secret ballot has been reportedly introduced. While the ballot may have
the merit of giving all Judges a chance of participation in the decision
making, there is no guarantee that a vote reflects that the person has
merit. Indeed the system of voting has the disadvantage of encouraging
unhealthy and non transparent lobbying for designation.
This is evident from the current designation. Out of 14 candidates who
had recommendations from not less than five Judges, only five have been
selected for designation with nothing to indicate why the others were not
designated. Each of the five Advocates is a general practitioner.
Advocates with PIL background and domain expertise have been totally
left out.
The impression has long being growing at the Bar that only relatives of
seniors of those who come from particular chambers get designated.
What is worse, there seems to be an imbalance between caste and
communities and I can only hope that this is not conscious as that would
go against the ethos of the Constitution by which we are all governed.
I would place for consideration of the Honble Chief Justice and Honble
Judges that a Search Committee of judges be constituted to identify those
lawyers doing PIL work in Environmental law or Human Rights and those
lawyers having domain expertise for conferring designation as Senior

Advocates. This Honble Court has powers coupled with duty to develop
a Bar which represents all branches of law. It would be advisable to issue
Rules under Article 145(a) specifying the criteria and the procedure for
being designated as Senior Advocates of the Court.
Speaking for myself I have no vested interest in the issue, having been
designated way back in 1986 by my own High Court and I am justly proud
of the fact that I was indeed the first women to be designated by the High
Court of Bombay. However, I do consider it my duty to make suggestions
for your consideration for the improvement of the quality of representing at
the bar and hence this letter.
I do hope that this letter will be taken in the spirit in which it is written
rather than being seen as an adversarial approach to the problem.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

Dated: 29/04/2015
To,
Chief Justice of India and all other
Companion judges of the Full Court
of the Honble Supreme Court

Dear Chief Justice and Judges of the Full court,


Letter dated 28/04/2015 sent by me have some typographical error.
Kindly ignore the same and find enclosed herewith the final one for your
information and record.

Yours faithfully

Indira Jaising

Dated: 29/04/2015
Sh. Fali S. Nariman,
Senior Advocate
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi.
Dear Sir,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

Dated: 29/04/2015
Mr. Mohan Parasaran,
Former Solicitor General of India
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi
Dear Mr.Parasaran,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

Dated: 29/04/2015
Sh. P.P. Rao,
Senior Advocate
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi.
Dear Sir,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

Dated: 29/04/2015
Mr. Dushyant A. Dave,
Senior Advocate
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi.
Dear Mr. Dave,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

Dated: 29/04/2015

Mr. Harish Salve,


Senior Advocate
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi.
Dear Mr. Salve,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

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Dated: 29/04/2015
Mr. Mukul Rohatgi,
Attorney General of India
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi.
Dear Mr. Rohatgi,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

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Dated: 29/04/2015
The Secretary,
AOR Association
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi
Dear Sir,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

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Dated: 29/04/2015
The President,
Bar Council of India
New Delhi
Dear Sir,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

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Dated: 29/04/2015
Mr. Murli Bhandare,
Senior Advocate
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi.
Dear Mr. Bhandare,
I am enclosing herewith a letter dated 29/04/2015 addressed
to all Judges of the Honble Supreme Court of India for your
reference.
I urge you to take up this issue at every appropriate forum
including Bar Associations and Bar Councils and with Judges at
seminars and conferences on the subject so that the judges become
aware of the grievances of the Bar with Bar Associations.
Yours faithfully,

Indira Jaising

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