SCBA Moves Supreme Court Seeking Lawyers Chambers In The 1.33 Acres Of Land Allotted To Court Recently

A Bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice Ravindra Bhat has posted the petition moved by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to next Monday.

During the hearing, the advocate appearing on behalf of the SCBA informed the Court that the President of SCBA Senior Advocate Vikas Singh wanted to argue the matter himself. "Can office bearers appear as a counsel? Bar Council of India does not permit that", the Bench remarked.

This being the case, the Bench expressed its reservations in issuing notice at this stage. Consequently, the advocate requested to have the matter taken up next week.

According to the petition, in recent years, the number of advocates practicing in the Supreme Court has increased manifold and the same has spiked the requirement of chambers and other Supreme Court related activities in the Supreme Court vicinity. And therefore, the chamber blocks of the Supreme Court can no longer accommodate the growing number of lawyers eligible for allotment.

"The Petitioner Association has a duty towards its members to meet their growing requirements and ensure that chambers are allotted as per the Seniority list expeditiously. In this backdrop, it is pertinent to mention that chamber blocks of the Supreme Court can no longer accommodate the growing number of lawyers eligible for allotment. As a result, the Petitioner Association requires additional space to cater to the accretion in the number of members in the Association in and around the Supreme Court of India."

Further, out of the 1.33 acres of land were allotted to the Supreme Court only 0.5 acres have been earmarked for the chamber blocks for lawyers and only 400-500 chambers can be constructed on the said land. "This land admeasuring 1.33 acres is the last piece of vacant land available near the Supreme Court and must be entirely utilized for constructing chamber blocks for lawyers", the plea reads.

The members of Petitioner Association are integrated and indispensable part of administration of Justice and chamber for a lawyer will facilitate this same, the plea added.

"The non-allotment of chambers due to the dearth of chamber blocks will violate the fundamental rights of the members as enshrined under Article 14, 19(1)(g) and Article 21 of E the Constitution of India. The same poses an impediment to the members of the Petitioner Association to practice their profession."

The petition seeks to have the entire area around the Supreme Court be declared as a Supreme Court Complex in consultation with the Ministry of Urban Development so that all the buildings across Supreme Court on Bhagwan Das Road including the Foreign Correspondence Club, Indian Law Institute (ILI), Indian Society of International Law (ISIL) etc. be utilized either for conversion into chambers or for re-development as chamber block/use for the activities related to the Supreme Court of India.