Senior Designation Matter: AG KK Venugopal Wanted To Recuse- Parties, Bench Said "No"

As the hearing  in the petition filed by senior advocate Indira Jaising began in the Supreme Court, Attorney General K K Venugopal expressed his wish to recuse from the case but was disallowed by all the parties except advocate Mathew Nedumpara who appeared for National Lawyers Campaign for Transparency and Reforms.

After that the bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked Venugopal, who had been issued notice by the bench to assist it in the contentious issue, to continue in the case since most parties did not have any objection.

Venugopal said earlier he had represented a batch of senior advocates from Karnataka High Court in a related matter and so could not be part of this hearing.

“I appeared for a batch of seniors of Karnataka High Court so it would not be proper for me to advance arguments and my stand. I would like to withdraw from this case”, Venugopal had said.

At this moment, Jaising said “I do not have any objection”. Sittiing by the side of Venugopal, R S Suri, the President of Supreme Court Bar Association said he also did not have any problem with it.

Only Nedumpara rose to say “I object”. The Bench then told Nedumpara : “We have already heard your objections”.

"Whether it is an honour or not is a matter of assumption and presumption. But after the senior designation it is a fact that lawyers get more briefs. The designation carries with it a public perception that a particular lawyer is competent and can be handed over a case with full confidence. And that he is much better than a non-senior", said the AG after he commenced his arguments.

"Because of this presumption court should be circumspect while awarding seniority" said Venugopal.

Court should not be liberal in granting seniorship but fix a limit for each court and there should be a fixed number every year, the AG said