In an order of the Supreme Court issued yesterday (12 September 2016), it has been notified that 26 retired high court judges of various high courts have been designated as Senior Advocates by the Supreme Court. These designations were approved by a full court meeting of the Supreme Court held on 31 August 2016. The names of the retired high court judges who have been designated as senior advocates are as under (the name of the high court from which retired is mentioned in the brackets):
- Uma Nath Singh (retired Chief Justice, Meghalaya high court)
- Satish Chandra (Allahabad high court)
- Ashim Kumar Banerjee (Calcutta high court)
- C. Bhanu (Hyderabad high court)
- Ravindra Singh (Allahabad high court)
- Chandra Kumar (Hyderabad high court)
- Anil Kumar (Delhi high court)
- Subash Chandra Jha (Patna high court)
- Kailash Ghambhir (Delhi high court)
- C. Puri (Punjab & Haryana high court)
- Arvind Kumar (Punjab & Haryana high court)
- Bharat Bhushan Prasoon (Punjab & Haryana high court)
- Sunil Hali (Allahabad high court)
- D. Rathi (Madhya Pradesh high court)
- Kamal Mehta (Gujarat high court)
- K. Rajan (Madras high court)
- Shambhoo Singh (Madhya Pradesh high court)
- Hasnain Massodi (Jammu & Kashmir high court)
- Dharnidhar Jha (Patna high court)
- Vijayeshwar Narayan Sinha (Patna high court)
- R. Kingaonkar (Bombay high court)
- Ishrat Masroor Quddusi (Chhatisgarh high court)
- D. Anand (Punjab & Haryana high court)
- Bana Seshasayana Reddy (Andhra Pradesh high court)
- Virendra Vikrarn Singh (Allahabad high court)
- M. Malik (Delhi high court)
It is pertinent to mention that Article 220 of the Constitution of India permits a retired permanent judge of a high court to practice before the Supreme Court and other high courts only, and he is not allowed to practice in his parent high court from where he retired.
Moreover, Section 16 of the Advocates Act, 1961, provides that an advocate may, with his consent, be designated as senior advocate if the Supreme Court or a High Court is of opinion that by virtue of his ability, standing at the Bar or special knowledge or experience in law, he is deserving of such distinction.
