‘Sir, please give me 30 seconds’, ‘No please, nothing’, CJI Sanjeev Khanna said on the request of 70 lawyers

On Monday (December 2, 2024), the Supreme Court heard the petition filed by the Delhi High Court regarding designating 70 lawyers as senior. The court asked the lawyers to write a letter requesting early listing and early hearing of the petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision to designate advocates as senior. Recently, Delhi High Court designated 70 lawyers as senior advocates. He was designated as a senior advocate after evaluating the candidates by a standing committee comprising Chief Justice Manmohan, Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Yashwant Verma and others.

The process came into controversy when senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, who was part of the High Court committee, resigned claiming that the final list was prepared without his consent. The petition was presented before the Supreme Court bench on Monday for urgent hearing. This bench includes Chief Justice of the country Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar.

During this time, when 70 lawyers were requested to present the matter orally, CJI Sanjeev Khanna refused. The lawyer insisted on early hearing of the matter and said that this matter is related to the designation of Senior Advocate of Delhi High Court. While requesting the bench, he said, ‘My Lord, please give me 30 seconds, this is the reason…’ While the lawyer was speaking, CJI Sanjeev Khanna interrupted him and said, ‘No please, nothing. File a letter and then we will see.

The CJI asked the lawyer to write a letter regarding listing of the case instead of making an oral mention. CJI Sanjiv Khanna had recently stopped the practice of oral mention by lawyers to request for early listing of new cases and hearing. The lawyers who have been designated as senior advocates include Santosh Tripathi, Anurag Ahluwalia, Rajdeep Behura, Anil Soni, Anupam Srivastava, Abhijat, Sumit Verma, Amit Chadha, Sumit Pushkaran, Sai Deepak J and Arundhati Katju. According to sources, the committee evaluated more than 300 lawyers. The application of three lawyers has been postponed for the time being.

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