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Indira Jaising v. Supreme Court of India through Secretary General and connected matters

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2017 INSC 1031Decided 12 Oct 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 454 of 2015, Transferred Case (Civil) No. 1 of 2017, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 819 of 2016, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 33 of 2016
Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice Navin Sinha

Background

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising challenged the Supreme Court's own practice of designating lawyers as "Senior Advocates," arguing that the system then in use, including designation by secret ballot/voting among judges, was arbitrary, lacked objective criteria, and was not transparent. Her writ petition, along with connected petitions and a transferred case raising similar concerns about High Court designation practices, asked the Court to lay down fair, uniform norms for this process across the Supreme Court and all High Courts.

Decision Breakdown

The Court agreed that the existing designation system suffered from a lack of transparency and objective criteria and laid down a detailed new framework. It directed that a permanent "Committee for Designation of Senior Advocates," headed by the Chief Justice and including senior judges, the Attorney General (or Advocate General for High Courts) and a nominated member of the Bar, be set up with its own secretariat to screen applications. It further prescribed a point-based scoring system (covering years of practice, reported judgments/legal work, publications, and a personal interview) to assess candidates objectively, with the final list going to the Full Court for a decision, rather than a free-wheeling secret vote. The Court disposed of all the connected petitions in terms of these guidelines, while noting the guidelines could be refined with experience over time.

Lesson Learnt

Even internal processes of the judiciary itself are not beyond judicial review for fairness: the Supreme Court held that even its own system for conferring a prestigious professional distinction must follow objective, transparent, and accountable criteria rather than an opaque voting process.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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