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Inform HCs about plea on sr lawyer designation: SC to secy

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Apr 24 2017 | 9:22 PM IST
The Supreme Court today asked its secretary general to inform all the high courts about the pendency of a matter pertaining to the practice of designating lawyers as senior advocates.
"The secretary general of the Supreme Court will take steps to inform the registrar general of all the high courts about the pendency of the present petition. Thereafter, it is left open to the high courts to take further course of action in the matter, as may be advised," a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Navin Sinha said.
The court has fixed the matter for hearing on May 2.
The apex court had on March 31 sought response of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Bar Council of India on the plea by senior advocate Indira Jaising seeking stay on the practice of designating lawyers as senior till a norm is evolved for it.
She has said that "view of the full bench" of the court, while designating an advocate as senior, should be known.
A batch of petitions have been filed for framing guidelines to designate lawyers as senior by the apex court and the high courts.

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Jaising, who has filed the plea in her personal capacity, had earlier sought an early hearing on the petition saying the issue of according designation is stalled and it will have wide ramifications across the country.
The top court had set up a three-judge bench for hearing the pleas for framing guidelines for designating lawyers as senior.
Jaising has sought transparency and overhaul of the "opaque system" of designating lawyers as senior advocate and said the apex court should deal with the matter on "judicial side" and frame uniform guidelines on the issue.
The court had also tagged with Jaising's plea a petition pending in the Delhi High Court which has challenged the provisions of the Advocates Act on designating lawyers as senior.
The petition in the high court had challenged the constitutional validity of the sections 16 and 23 (5) of the Advocates Act, 1961 which provide the statutory basis for designating lawyers as senior advocates.

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First Published: Apr 24 2017 | 9:22 PM IST

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