Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud remarked on Saturday that the current process of designating senior advocates plays a crucial role in dismantling barriers for lawyers aspiring to achieve excellence.

CJI Chandrachud made this observation in response to recent criticism following the Supreme Court's designation of 39 lawyers as Senior Advocates in August. While some voiced concerns about the omission of certain applicants, others advocated for a return to the previous system of designating Senior Advocates through secret voting and thorough deliberations by the full court.

Addressing the controversy, the CJI emphasized that the purpose of senior designations should be viewed as a platform for lawyers to excel, rather than as an absolute measure of excellence.

"We faced some critique about Seniors we designated. I was told the other day that some of the counsel we designated as Seniors are yet to gather work. I told them that the purpose of this broad designation was to convey the impression that in designating Seniors, we are creating a platform for others to excel. Obviously, you designate someone who has more than basic level of work, but by the designation we are allowing the bar to excel. Not all will do excellently at the bar 10 or 15 years down the line. But that is the same as appointing judges. Not every judge appointed to district judiciary or High Court achieves excellence," CJI Chandrachud said.

The CJI was addressing attendees at the inaugural International Supreme Court Advocates on Record (SCAORA) Legal Conference taking place in Goa. He noted that the current designation process alleviates concerns that the senior gown is exclusive to a particular "closed group" of individuals.

"The effort in designating Seniors has been for the bar to understand that the Supreme Court bar, when it wants to aspire for improvement, should not be confronted with a barrier that it is a closed group of people and that designation would be conferred only on them. We wanted to convey that to lawyers across India, especially women lawyers, that we will allow the bar to prosper," the CJI explained.

The current system for Senior Advocate designations requires eligible lawyers to apply for the senior gown, with their applications evaluated based on various criteria. This point-based system was introduced in 2017, following the Supreme Court's ruling in the Indira Jaising case, which replaced the previous method of conferring the senior advocate gown through secret voting after deliberations by the full court.

In a May 2023 judgment, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul noted that the method of “secret voting” by the full court should be reserved for exceptional cases rather than applied as a standard practice. 

In August of this year, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta and Supreme Court Bar Association President Kapil Sibal met with CJI Chandrachud to propose a reevaluation of the point system established by the Indira Jaising ruling for future designations. During the discussion, it was emphasized that, since being designated a Senior Advocate is an honor based on one’s contributions, it may not be appropriate for lawyers to have to apply for this designation.

Broadly, it was suggested that the Court could develop a formula involving input from a group of senior judges and bar members who could recommend senior designations for lawyers who have made significant contributions to the Court and jurisprudence. The final decision on such recommendations could be made by the full court after all judges have assessed the performance of the proposed lawyer.