'Appearance Not Limited To Making Submissions': SCBA & SCAORA File Petition In Supreme Court On Marking Of Lawyers' Appearances

The Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) have jointly filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that all Advocates present and appearing in a case are entitled to get their appearances recorded in the orders as per the Supreme Court Rules.The writ petition has been filed in the wake of an observation made by the Supreme Court last year in Bhagwan Singh v State of UP that "Advocates-on-Record may mark the appearances of only those Advocates who are authorized to appear and argue the case on the particular day of hearing."The associations point out that the said observation is contrary to the settled practice followed by the Supreme Court to mark the appearance of all the counsels who have contributed to the proper adjudication of a particular case. It is pointed out that representation or appearance before the Court is not limited to making submissions."Role of the Advocate is not limited to making submissions, more so when she is appearing before the highest constitutional Court of the land, but may extend to research of relevant case laws, secure appropriate instructions from the client, preparing the brief for the Senior Advocate, making written submissions for the Hon'ble Court, drafting the pleadings, filing of the case before the Hon'ble court and much more which goes before a case could be heard and adjudicated by this Hon'ble Court. A narrower interpretation of “appearance” to mean only to make submission before theCourt will be a discredit to the various functions performed by an Advocate," the petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution states.It is stated that as a general practice, the Advocate-on-Record includes the names of the advocates who have assisted in drafting of the case, briefing the Senior advocates or advocates who had represented the party before the lower courts, including the Junior Advocates from the office of a Senior Advocate who have been involved in the matter. This practice has been adopted to recognize the contribution made by various Advocates to present a case before the Supreme Court. The petitioners also seek guidelines so that all benches of the Supreme Court follow uniform practices in marking appearances."By restricting the advocates to enter appearances only of the counsel who has argued the matter will be prejudicial to the efforts put in by other advocates, therefore it is prayed that a general guidelines be passed for marking of appearances which should be uniform in all the Courts. Such guidelines should take into consideration the efforts put in by the entire team of the Advocates who have religiously and dedicatedly worked on a brief, and ensure that their efforts are duly recognized by marking their appearances in the matter."The petitioners highlight that recording of the appearances is very much crucial for the professional growth of an advocate. The number of appearances act as a barometer of the advocate's professional practice in the Supreme Court and this number plays a crucial role in determining the right to vote in elections, eligibility for allocation of chambers, senior designation, government empanelment etc. Non-recording of appearances will also demoralise junior advocates.The petitioners also point out that the norms regarding marking of appearances are laid down through the rule-making powers of the Supreme Court on its administrative side. Therefore, a judicial direction on this aspect amounts to an "overreach". They also flag that the directions affecting the legal fraternity were passed without hearing the advocates collectively or the associations. Also, this aspect was not an issue in the particular case in which the directions were issued. The associations stated that they filed a miscellaneous application seeking modification of the directions on lawyers' appearances made in Bhagwan Singh."general practice directions passed in order dated 20.09.2024 in SLP (CRL.) D.NO.18885 of 2024 cannot comprise a judicial order considering that there was no lis pending before the Hon'ble court which would warrant such directions, and it is for this reason that none of the affected parties I.e. the advocates practising before this Hon'ble Court or through their registered bodies I.e. the Petitioners herein were heard in this regard."The petition has been drawn by Advocates Vipin Nair, Vikrant Yadav, Amit Sharma and Nikhil Jain. The petition was settled by Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Atmaram Nadkarni, Rachana Srivastava and Gagan Gupta. The petition was filed through Advocate Astha Sharma.Related - 'We Are Discontinuing This Practice': Supreme Court Says Won't Record Appearances Of Advocates Who Didn't Argue/Appear

'Appearance Not Limited To Making Submissions': SCBA & SCAORA File Petition In Supreme Court On Marking Of Lawyers' Appearances

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