SCBA Prez writes to CJI N V Ramana, seeks audience to discuss issues of Bar

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana urging that an audience be given to its Executive Committee members to discuss issues such as elevation of apex court lawyers as high court judges, their designation as seniors and allotment of chambers in the premises here.

"We are extremely hopeful that the concerns of the bar will be addressed in your tenure as Chief Justice of India. It is, therefore, requested that an audience be given to the Executive Committee of SCBA to discuss the above issues at the earliest," SCBA President and senior lawyer Vikas Singh said in a letter written to the CJI on Tuesday.

Referring to an earlier communication, the SCBA President listed out important issues to bring them to the notice of the CJI.

"The List of meritorious Supreme Court practitioners (lawyers) as identified by the 'Search Committee' was handed over to you by the undersigned in a sealed cover for the necessary course of action.

"We hope and trust that the names suggested by the Search Committee shall be considered by the respective High Court Collegiums along with the lawyers from the High Court Bar to choose the most deserving candidate," the letter said.

The letter also raised the issue of designation of apex court lawyers as seniors and said the 'Committee for Designation of Senior Advocate' is "obliged to meet at least twice in a calendar year. However, there has been no such meeting in the last two years." It said that it was resolved in the meeting of the Full Court on March 27, 2019, that pending applications of 2018 for grant of senior designation to lawyers will be considered in the next meeting of Full Court.

"Therefore, a Full Court meeting is required to clear the pending names," it said.

On the issue of resumption of the physical hearing, Singh wrote that the system of issuing special passes for the high-security area in the apex court premises be dispensed within the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Secretary-General on August 28, this year.

"Entry to the high-security area should be permitted by the use of a proximity card and the waiting areas would be the libraries and the lounges where lawyers will wait on their own after observing COVID protocol," it said.

The letter urged the CJI to look into the issues about allotment of chambers for lawyers in the new building complex saying they are ready from 2018-19 and are un-allotted to date.

"Preparation of Seniority List for allotment of chambers to be expedited so that allotment of chambers can be done at the earliest," it said.

The SCBA President also raised other issues of the Bar in his letter.