Chief Justice of India S A Bobde mooted an idea before the Bar on Thursday that there should be a minimum experience criteria for lawyers to appear before the Supreme Court.
A Bench comprising the CJI and justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant expressed its view on fixing some experience criteria for lawyers to appear before the top court when senior advocate and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Dushyant Dave raised the issue of difficulties being faced by advocates in getting the matters listed for urgent hearing.
“My lords, the Bar is facing problems in getting the matters listed for urgent hearing before the mentioning officer,” Mr. Dave told the Bench.
He said that at times lawyers are unable to persuade the mentioning officer about the “grave urgencies” of the matters which needed urgent hearing.
The CJI, who has been consistently saying that the mentioning of cases for urgent hearing should be done before the mentioning officer and not before the first court, today said, “We do not want to start the day like this. The idea of urgency in the mind of Bar is different.”
“We know that we have the power to restore the status quo ante (power to nullify the impact of orders of the court below) if required,” the Bench said, adding that a woman lawyer has been seeking an urgent hearing now of a petition which was filed in 2017.
Giving the illustration, the CJI said he has been telling the bar councils to fix minimum experience criteria for young lawyers for appearing in the Supreme Court.
“I straight away agree (to the suggestion) that there should be minimum 10 years of experience to stand in this court,” the SCBA president told the Bench.
