Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Against Delhi High Court on Senior Designation Review
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition alleging that the Delhi High Court had not complied with its earlier direction to reconsider applications for senior designation that were rejected or deferred last year.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, criticised the lawyer who filed the plea. The Court said that members of the Bar should not initiate unnecessary litigation, and assured that the High Court was already aware of the matter.
The bench also noted that most High Courts have either amended or are in the process of amending their rules on senior designation in line with the Supreme Court’s earlier judgments.
The Court therefore saw no reason to believe that the Delhi High Court would delay compliance. The petition was dismissed.
This case came after an April 2025 order by a bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka (now retired) and Ujjal Bhuyan, directing the Delhi High Court to re-examine applications of lawyers whose names were rejected or deferred during the 2024 senior designation process.
That process had shortlisted only 70 lawyers out of 302 interviewed. The names of 67 lawyers were deferred, and the matter later attracted controversy when Senior Advocate Sudhir Nandrajog resigned from the Permanent Committee. He said the final list had been prepared without his consent.
The Permanent Committee is responsible for shortlisting candidates for senior designation. The final decision is taken by the full court. This framework was established under the Supreme Court’s 2017 judgment in Indira Jaising v. Supreme Court of India.
