Apex court petition challenges senior designation for 70 lawyers

A petition in the Supreme Court has challenged senior designations conferred on 70 advocates by the Delhi High Court.

A Bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna on Monday asked the petitioner’s counsel to circulate a letter for early listing of the matter.

Last week, the Delhi High Court designated 70 lawyers as senior advocates after a permanent committee comprising Chief Justice Manmohan, Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Yashwant Varma and others evaluated the candidates.

Senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog resigned from the committee over claims that the final list was prepared without his consent.

Those designated as senior advocates include Santosh Tripathi, Anurag Ahluwalia, Rajdipa Behura, Anil Soni, Anupam Srivastava, Abhijat, Sumeet Verma, Amit Chadha, Sumeet Pushkarna, Sai Deepak J and Arundhati Katju.The committee is said to have evaluated over 300 advocates, except three lawyers whose applications for senior designation have been deferred for now.