NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday appointed Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi as amicus curiae in a PIL seeking judicial scrutiny of the Supreme Court’s method to designate lawyers as ‘senior advocates’.
“The Attorney General will act as a nodal officer and you all give proposal to him. We are open to all good suggestions,” a Bench comprising Justice T S Thakur and Justice V Gopala Gowda said. Supreme Court Bar Association president Dushyant Dave said, “It is a very sad commentary on us. Please pass an injunction on High Courts granting ‘senior’ designations on lawyers who hardly practise before them.”
The Bench agreed with the concerns expressed by various senior advocates including Kapil Sibal, Rajiv Dhavan, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, M N Krishnamani and others on the issue and asked them to come out with concrete proposals to improve the existing system.
The court gave six weeks time to Rohatgi to collate the proposals of various lawyers and file the report within six weeks and posted the PIL for hearing in the third week of October.
Meanwhile, the SC on Monday asked ex-CBI Special Director M L Sharma, who has given his consent to assist the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in its probe against Ranjit Sinha accused of scuttling probes in the coal block scam as the agency’s chief, to reconsider his demands on remuneration and infrastructure. The apex court noted that the issue of remuneration and other expenses, including that of the staff, mentioned by Sharma to Rohatgi prime facie appears to be exaggerated.