Who is a ‘Senior’ Lawyer? Chief Justice explains

An eminent senior advocate has to be a person who is remarkable in terms of intellectual & moral attainments in the profession & not just one who has a long standing at the Bar. This observation was made by Chief Justice of Madras HC Amreshwar Pratap Sahi on Friday. The Madurai Bench, comprising the CJ & Justice Subramonium Prasad was dealing with a petition that sought declaration of the term ‘senior’ in Rule 4(5) of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995, as null & void. 

Disposing of the petition, the Chief Justice made recommendations with regard to appropriate guidelines to be followed by a district magistrate (Collector) while engaging ‘eminent’ senior advocates for trials under the said SC/ST Rules & directed the government to frame & execute such guidelines within a month. Justice Sahi said, “The words ‘eminent senior advocate’ in Rule 4(5) of the 1995 Rules, in our considered opinion, isn't a synonym of the definition of a senior advocate as contained in the Advocates Act 1961. Even an advocate who isn't a designated senior advocate under the 1961 Act can be considered ‘eminent’ if he has ample years of practice with expertise in the field of criminal law.”

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