A lawyer mentioned the representation, citing a Bar & Bench report published on Tuesday in this regard.
As per the report, a full court meeting of the Madras High Court has been scheduled for Wednesday, to take a final call on the names of 81 lawyers shortlisted to be designated as Senior Advocates.
The candidates were shortlisted by a permanent committee headed by acting Chief Justice T Raja.
The list includes three women lawyers – advocates AL Ganthimathi, Dakshayani Reddy and Narmadha Sampath.
“There was a news in Bar & Bench last night that only three women being considered for designation as seniors in Madras High Court,” the lawyer told the Supreme Court.
She then attempted to pass a copy of representation to the bench.
The bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, however, refused to accept the papers.
“No no you cannot pass on papers like this. You are in the Supreme Court,” the CJI said.
The lawyer underlined that a very low number of women apply for senior designation but only three have been shortlisted.
The CJI said that the bench cannot accept representation during mentioning when it was not a petition on the judicial side.
“We don’t even have a petition.. what are we supposed to do,” the CJI asked.
Further, he explained that the Court could intervene without a petition on mentioning only in matters involving personal liberty and not when the issue was about designation of Senior Counsel
“There has to be some discipline. As a Chief Justice, somebody has been wrongfully detained.. likely to lose personal liberty we will intervene without a petition on mentioning. But this is designation of some senior counsel at Madras. We cannot intervene like this,” he said.
Source: Barandbench
