Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Allahabad HC's Senior Designations Conferred In 2019
Amisha Shrivastava
6 Nov 2026 9:45 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Friday (November 6) dismissed a plea challenging senior advocate designations conferred by the Allahabad High Court in 2019.
A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe observed that the applicants who were not conferred the designation could apply afresh in the next round.
Advocate Pranav Sachdeva for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was not considered despite having 15 years of unblemished continuous practice in Allahabad High Court.
However, Justice Narashimha questioned why he wanted to litigate the issue, responding, "Apply. Why do you want to litigate? You apply afresh. Don't unnecessarily litigate."
Sachdeva alleged that the selection committee has not done the evaluation for several years despite the judgment in Jitendra Kalla v. State of NCT holding that at least one exercise of senior designation must be done every calendar year.
Ultimately, the Court ordered, "We are not inclined to interfere with the order passed by the High Court. We make it clear that the petitioner will be entitled to reapply and upon such application it shall be considered in accordance with the law that governs the subject, including the principle laid down in Jitendra Kalla's case."
Background
The Special Leave Petition was filed against the September 2024 judgment of the Allahabad High Court which rejected the petition filed by Advocate Vishnu Bihari Tiwari against the 2019 designations. While dismissing the petition, the High Court had also noted that no senior designations have taken place since 2019.
In 2019, when after the applications for Senior Designation were sought, the Permanent Committee, headed by the then Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court resolved that advocates who obtain 45 points or more out of 75 points shall only be considered to be eligible as such for their nomination for designation as Senior Advocate.
The High Court held that the decision of the Permanent Committee to forward only selected applications to the Full Court was in accordance with the decision in Indira Jaising (2017) as it is permitted to frame such rules/ criteria to “clear”/recommend only such applicants to the Full Court, as it may consider fit.
It was held that though designations could not have been conferred without granting interviews to the shortlisted candidates, the suo moto powers of the High Court and Supreme Court to grant designation have been preserved in Indira Jaising (2023). Therefore, it was held that senior designations conferred without taking interviews could only have been challenged by the short-listed candidates only, and not by others. Since the petitioners were never shortlisted based on their cut-off marks, they could not challenge the Senior Designations conferred on this ground.
The High Court held that the requirement for interview was not mandatory but discretionary in nature.
While issuing notice on the SLP against the HC order, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed that the permanent committee of the High Court departed from the law laid down in Indira Jaising v. Supreme Court by reducing the total marks to 75 from 100.
Subsequently, in the Jitendra Kalla case, a bench led by Justice Oka revisited the norms of senior designation laid down in the Indira Jaising judgment. The Supreme Court discontinued the point-based assessment as well as the interview process before the Permanent Commitee.
After Justice Oka's retirement, the present case regarding the Allahabad HC senior designations came before the bench led by Justice Narasimha, who has now refused to interfere in the 2019 senior designations and observed that any fresh application by the petitioner would be evaluated as per the principles laid down in the Jitendra Kalla judgment.
