Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging Allahabad HC's Senior Designations Conferred In 2019

The Supreme Court on Friday (May 9) issued notice in a plea challenging senior advocate designations conferred by the Allahabad High Court in 2019.While issuing notice, the bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan noted 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. 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.Out of the 78 names sent to the Full Court, 75 were granted Senior DesignationThe 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 Court held that the requirement for interview was not mandatory but discretionary in nature.Recently, the Supreme Court had found certain issues with the November 2024 senior designation process carried out by the Delhi High Court and asked the High Court to reconsider rejected and deferred candidates.The bench led by Justice Oka has also reserved judgment on revisiting the norms laid down in the Indira Jaising judgment.Case : Vishnu Behari Tiwari vs. The High Court of Judicature at Allahabad | Diary No. 10144-2025 Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging Allahabad HC's Senior Designations Conferred In 2019

Amisha Shrivastava

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