NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday expressed displeasure over a lawyer's reference of noted jurist Fali S Nariman in his contention to buttress that sons and daughters of judges were awarded the designation of senior advocates and said such an argument was akin to inviting contempt action.
The apex court got annoyed as the counsel tried to make reference of the views of senior advocate Fali S Nariman on the issue.
"Why did you take the name of Fali S Nariman. Do you think you can get away? What did he get to do with the matter? We are warning you, we are going to issue contempt notice to you," a bench comprising Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran told advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, who was arguing for a lawyers body, 'National Lawyers' Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms'.
The advocate tried to get out of the ire of the bench by telling he did not mention the name of any senior advocate. This further infuriated Justice Nariman who said "the whole courtroom heard you take his name."
Some of the lawyers in the courtroom too replied in affirmative to the bench suggestion that the lawyer did refer to the name of the senior advocate. Justice R F Nariman is the son of the noted jurist, Fali S Nariman. The bench orally asked the court master to record everything that the counsel argued.
Nedumpara submitted that the provision for giving the senior advocate designations was violative of the right to equality and discriminatory as sone sons of judges were being a priority.
The lawyer's body has challenged the validity of Section 16(2) of the Advocates Act, 1961, which stated there should be two classes of advocates.
He submitted that the advocates who have 30 or 35 years of practice and have crossed 60 years of age should be declared as senior advocates. The argument did not impress the bench, which said: "So, you think it should be given as bounty." Before reserving its verdict, the bench warned Nedumpara against taking any names when he make submissions about the legal profession.
"You think you can get away by saying whatever you want, to whomsoever you choose and none of us will take any action against you? We will show you. You took his name, that is bad enough. What has he got to do with this matter, you tell us," the bench said.