Lawyers' Names Runs 10 Pages, Orders Only Few: Top Court On Marking Appearances

The Supreme Court on Thursday raised concern over a large numbers of lawyers marking their appearance in cases, and their names running into several pages, whereas an order was only a few pages.

A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said if a lawyer was assisting the court "effectively" it had no problem in adding the appearance.

"Names of lawyers go into 10 pages and the order will go into only a few pages. We are not passing any orders on how the names of advocates should be included in the order. Since you are representing the Bar, we are hearing out," it said.

The top court said though many lawyers appeared with the arguing counsel, nobody argued when asked to.

"Or we would have clearly said you have no locus. Whoever is attached with the lawyer, their names are there. It cannot be done like that. When we see they are assisting you effectively, their names are there. We will pass the orders," the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

Sibal submitted the SCBA and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association would submit a proposal to regulate the issue.

"You are right; 30-40 names cannot be given. But some reasonable, fair procedure to ensure that genuine people who are here and their names should be added," he said.

The top court was hearing a plea by the associations seeking a direction to its administration regarding uniform guidelines to allow all advocates present and appearing in a particular case to mark their appearances.

In an order passed on September 20 last year, the top court said advocates-on-record could mark the appearances of only those lawyers who were authorised to appear in the court and argue on a particular day of hearing.

It said according to a December 30, 2022 notice issued by the top court, only advocates-on-record could mark the appearances of the lawyers appearing in the court through the link provided on the website or on the office mobile app of the Supreme Court.

The court said the notice nowhere permitted the advocates-on-record to mark the appearances of those lawyers who were not authorised either to appear in the court or argue a case.

The top court's direction came while ordering a CBI inquiry in a case in which a petitioner denied filing an appeal and claimed he had never hired any of the lawyers present in the court to file a case on his behalf.

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