Aarohi Girish Dhumale
The Supreme Court on 7th February, 2025, dismissed a petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision to confer senior designations on 70 advocates.
This case was heard by a bench comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran .
Previously, the Court had reprimanded the petitioner for accusing senior designations of being granted due to nepotism and warned him that he would face contempt if those statements were not removed from the petition.
Justice Gavai while hearing this petition now stated that no lawyer receives preferential treatment in the Supreme Court solely due to holding a senior gown.
“We don’t see that anybody gets better treatment in this Court because he has a different gown,” Justice Gavai said.
The petitioner said that this perception does not prevail among the lawyers, especially juniors.
“My lawyer friends are fearful of the Court,” the petitioner said, to which Justice Gavai replied, “Lawyers must be fearless,”.
The petition has been dismissed.
Last week, the Court had dismissed another similar petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s senior designations.
In 2023, the Supreme Court had dismissed an earlier writ petition filed by the petitioner challenging the constitutional validity of Section 16 of the Advocates Act over the classification of advocates as Senior Advocates- and Section 23(5), which gives Senior Advocates the right to pre-audience.
Case Name: Shri Mathews J. Nedumpara and ors. v. The Full Court Of The Hon’ble Judges Of The High Court Of Delhi And Ors
Diary Number : 60205-2024
Bench: Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran