Inform All HCs About Pendency of ‘Senior Designation’ Matter In SC: SC

Supreme Court of India on Monday has asked the Secretary General of the Court to inform all high courts about the pendency of the ‘senior designation’ matter before it, by next week

The bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi also  asked the counsel, appearing for Registrar General of Apex Court to inform whether  designation issue is on the agenda for full court or not .

The court was hearing an application filed by Senior Advocate Indira Jaising for a direction not to designate any lawyer as Senior Advocate till the final disposal of her PIL by the court.

Last month, the Supreme Court issued notice to Secy General of the Apex Court, Advocate on Record Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on her plea not to designate any lawyer as Senior till the final disposal of her PIL.

On March 22, the Bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi while referring the PIL, filed by Jaising, to a larger bench refused to pass any judicial order granting stay on designation of senior lawyers.

The Bench had left it to the discretion of high courts and Supreme Court to designate seniors.

In the application, she said “so far as Supreme Court is concerned, considering that there are no rules, it is just necessary that pending the hearing and final disposal of this petition, the status quo should be maintained and no designations should be maintained and no designations should be made”.

“If designations are made, the very purpose of the present petition would be negated in the light of the observations made in order on January 2, 2017,” she stated in her application.