Kerala HC Confers Senior Designation To 3 Advocates

The High Court of Kerala has conferred senior designation to Advocates George Poonthottam, P. Vishwanathan and Gopinath Menon.

George Poonthottam has a standing of 39 years at the bar and is known for handling cases in the field of constitutional law, education, service etc. He has been the standing counsel for universities and co-operative societies.

P.Vishwanathan, with a standing of 31 years at the bar, is widely respected as a veteran civil lawyer, with immense experience at the trial side and appellate side.

Gopinath Menon, has a standing of 22 years at the bar and is currently the partner of the law firm Menon & Pai.

This is the first conferment of senior designations as per the per the newly framed High Court of Kerala (Designation of Senior Advocates Rules) 2018 notified on February 1The Rules are framed as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court in the decision Indira Jaising v. Union of India.

Last April, the Kerala High Court had invited suggestions from the bar regarding proposals and recommendations for senior designation.

As per Rule 8 of the Rules, the proposals and recommendations are to be published in the official website to enable the stakeholders to submit their views and suggestions within 30 days of publication. Anonymous responses are clearly barred as per the Rules.

In the first list published on April 2, names of 14 advocates have been published. The names were :- Gopinath.P, P. Vishwanathan, N.Raghuraj, P.B Krishnan, Santhosh Mathew, Philip Mathew, Mohan Pulikkal, Kodoth Sridharan, V.VSurendran, Elvin Peter.J, Murali Purushothaman, Madhu Radhakrishnan, Karunakaran C.K and Subash Chand.S. Out of these, 12 names were based on recommendations by two senior advocates as per Rule 3(b). The names of Philip Mathew and Karunakaran C.K were based on voluntary applications, which have been endorsed by two senior advocates as per Rule 3(c).

Later on April 3, a second list was published with the names of 6 more advocates :- V. Santharam, P.Sanjay, Mayan Kutty K.I, P.S Sreedharan Pillai, George Poonthottam and K. Narayanan. Out of these, the names of three lawyers were proposed by sitting judges as per Rule 3(a). George Poonthottam and K. Narayanan were proposed by Justice C.K Abdul Rehim, and Mayan Kutty K.I was proposed by Justice A. Hariprasad. V. Santharam submitted voluntary application with endorsement of two senior advocates and the rest were recommended by two senior advocates each.