Sejal Chaturvedi –
In a recent development, the All-India Lawyers Union (AILU) objected to the move of the Supreme Court Bar Association of elevating practising lawyers of the Supreme Court to High Court judges.
This proposal was made on 31st May 2021, when the SBCA proposed to directly elevate Supreme Court lawyers to become High Court judges.
Further, the rationale behind this move has been stated as that the Supreme Court lawyers are more meritorious than their colleagues at High Courts.
This issue became more serious as, the SCBA set up a committee of its office bearers to decide for the potential candidates, which includes SBCA president, and senior advocates Mahalaxmi Pawni, Rakesh Dwivedi, Shekhar Naphade, Vijay Hansaria and V Giri Singh
This move of SBCA was strongly opposed by AILU and other state lawyer’s association.
The Rajasthan High Court Advocates Association (RHCAA) has written to the CJI urging them to not accept this discriminating proposal.
The RHCAA President Nathu Singh Rathore said that this proposal interferes with the right and autonomy of respective high courts to appoint their judges and it also questions the competence and talent of the practising lawyers at the respective High Court.
The Madras Bar Association (MBA) strongly opposed this move by SCBA and called it unconstitutional as per article 217 and stated, “Practising for more than 10 years in the respective High Court or in two or more such High courts is mandatory criteria for elevating as High Court judge, says the President of MBA.”
Further, the President also added that if Supreme Court takes control of High Court judges’ appointments, then the practising lawyers of the High Court will be deprived of their opportunity to become a judge.
The Vice-chairman of BCI also condemned this move saying that this is an attempt to interfere with the administrative affairs of the high courts.