Delhi HC panel designates 70 lawyers as senior advocates; 1 member does not sign final list

The HC on November 29 issued formal notifications giving effect to the 70 designations. A separate notification stated that 66 names had been deferred. Over 300 advocates had applied for the coveted designation. It, however, ran into controversy after senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, who was nominated by the state government to the designation committee, was unable to attend the meetings to finalise the list.

“I had no information about the meeting (on November 28) of the committee, no agenda or notice was circulated at least to me. There is no quorum specified under the Rules but if at all there is a meeting, at least the notice is expected to be circulated. I resigned from the committee on Friday and sent it to Chief Justice, Chief Minister Delhi as I was nominated by the Delhi government,” Nandrajog said.

It is learnt Nandrajog was unavailable as he was engaged in an international arbitration matter.

The permanent committee is headed by Chief Justice Manmohan and also comprises Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Yashwant Verma, two senior-most HC judges, as members. It also has Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, Delhi HC Bar Association president Mohit Mathur, apart from Nandrajog as members.

It is learnt that the full court’s decision to finalise the names immediately was taken since the Supreme Court Collegium had on November 28 recommended Chief Justice Manmohan to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court. A delay would essentially mean that the entire process — from calling for applications, interviewing candidates, and finalising names — would have to be repeated after constituting a new committee.

“The process has been pending for almost four and a half years and judges felt that it cannot be started all over again. The decision was taken in the interest of the Bar,” the source said.

The designation process was delayed since the selection panel had to be reconstituted once this year after two of the three judges on the panel — Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Suresh Kait — were in October elevated as Chief Justices of other High Courts.

“Mr Nandrajog was held up in arbitration at the time I believe, so the other five members of the committee met on Thursday and a list was drafted… and sometime in the night, the list was tentatively cleared to be sent to full court the next day,” a member of the Bar, who was on the committee, said.