CJI seeks minimum experience for lawyers appearing in SC
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New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, unhappy over the manner deployed by some lawyers to mention cases for urgent hearing, on Thursday suggested the Bar explore a minimum experience criteria for lawyers to appear before the Supreme Court.
A bench, headed by the Chief Justice and comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant, floated the idea to senior advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Dushyant Dave, who raised the issues being faced by advocates in getting the matters listed for urgent hearing.
Dave told the bench that the bar is facing problems in listing the matters for urgent hearing before the mentioning officer, as sometimes, the lawyers find it difficult to convince the officer concerned of the urgency involved in the matter.
The Chief Justice has, on several occasions, expressed discontent on the process adopted to mention cases for urgent hearing before the court. He had emphasised that matters pertaining to urgent listing should first go to the mentioning officer.
"We do not want to start the day in this manner," he said, adding that the apex court is well aware of its power to restore status quo, the power in the domain of the top court to nullify the order of the lower courts.
He cited the case of a woman lawyer has been seeking urgent hearing on a petition filed in 2017.
Dave told the court that he agrees with this suggestion and that there should be minimum 10 years of experience to stand in this court.
