Senior lawyers will no longer get to mention matters for an out-of-turn hearing in the Supreme Court after Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra on Wednesday decided to allow this concession only to advocates-on-record (AoR) practicing in the Supreme Court. An AoR is a lawyer who has had considerable practice in the Supreme Court and who is well-qualified to appear in cases after passing a test conducted by the SC that entitles him to become an AoR.
The decision has come in the wake of an unfortunate incident that occurred on Tuesday when a lawyer protested for being denied to mention a case while senior lawyers were allowed to mention multiple cases before the CJI.
On Wednesday, when the turn came for mentioning cases in the CJI's courtroom, Justice Misra announced, "Only advocates on record (AoR) will mention henceforth". Waiting for his turn to mention was Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, who wanted to mention a case for urgent listing.
Although there is no set principle on who can mention, in the past CJIs have exercised authority on whether mentioning of cases be permitted and if so, who should be allowed to mention. As a norm that existed for some time, both junior and senior lawyers have been mentioning cases. There have been instances when a CJI has refused to entertain mentioning of any kind. Also, one CJI in the past has expressed annoyance over senior lawyers mentioning cases.
Tuesday's din resulting in junior lawyers joining the chorus of protest at being denied an opportunity to mention was replaced by a stunned silence on Wednesday when the same was restricted only to AoRs. By this order, no senior lawyer can be engaged by clients or lawyers to mention matters before CJI. Mentioning also takes a toll on the time judges need to devote to other matters already listed before the Court. It is for this reason too, the Court decided to restrict mentioning by senior lawyers.