Collegium Should Take Forward Proposal To Elevate Justice Dipankar Dutta : SCBA President Vikas Singh

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, on Monday said that the proposal to elevate Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta must be taken ahead by the Supreme Court Collegium despite the change in its composition.

Speaking at a felicitation function organised by the SCBA to honour the newly sworn-in Chief Justice of India Justice Dr DY Chandrachud, Singh said :

"Justice Dipankar Dutta's name has been recommended for elevation more than 6 weeks back and it should not happen that now that the Collegium has changed, the name should be send back. That name should go as it is and new names should be added as separate list".

Singh also raised the issue regarding consideration of Supreme Court lawyers for elevation as High Court judges - a demand which the SCBA had been making for some time.

"One of our major issues which has been pending is the elevation of our members of the various High Courts. I am sure Justice Chandrachud will put in a place to ensure that our members are regularly considered for elevation to various High Courts on their merit. If our members deserve to be elevated, we must have a credible system. For that purpose, some out of the box thinking must be done. Because Collegium in the High Courts do not have a direct access to the nature of practice being done by our lawyers. But I am sure there are clearly discernible ways of seeing, the kind of reporting judgments you have, the income tax filings etc which could be a basis for picking up names on a regular basis".

If lawyers are not asked for elevation at the right point of time, they will not give consent because they are doing very good at practice. So the system will lose good persons if they are not asked at the right time, he said. In this regard, he referred to the the recent order passed by the Supreme Court which highlighted that the Centre's delay in finalising the appointments will discourage lawyers from giving consent for judgeship.

Regarding elevation to the Supreme Court, Singh said that merit has been the primary consideration and other aspects like regional representation and seniority are also considered. However, there are various High Courts which are unrepresented in the Supreme Court now. Singh cited the instance of Patna High Court, his base High Court, in this regard. He mentioned Jharkhand and Orissa High Courts too.

"Hon'ble Chief Justice of India has a tremendous opportunity to not only fill up the six vacancies which are already there but also to fill up fifteen or sixteen vacancies in his tenure and also that elevation is done in a time bound manner from the date of recommendation", he said. 

The SCBA President also raised issues regarding new library, lunch room, ladies room and increased chamber spaces for Supreme Court lawyers considering the increase in membership. He also requested the need for improving the medical facilities for lawyers and cited the instances of three lawyers recently requiring emergency medical care in Supreme Court itself. The demand to increase the creche facilities was also raised by him.

As regards listing, he said that many issues were sorted out during the tenure of CJI Lalit. "Every matter which gets filed in this Court should get listed within 2-3 days. If in Delhi High Court every matter can get listed the next day, there is no reason why it cannot happen in the Supreme Court. This will also take away the burden of mentioning", he said.