Lawyers’ body protests SCBA statement regarding proposal to elevate Supreme Court layers as HC judges
All India Lawyers Union ( AILU ) urges upon Honourable Chief Justice of India to reject the proposal of Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) and may be kind enough to withdraw instructions if any given to Honorable Chief Justices of the High Courts in favour of the proposal of the SCBA.
The Union on Sunday wrote through a statement to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) expressing it's reservation againest
the reported move for elevation of advocates practising in the Supreme Court as judges of High Courts.
The statement says that " AILU notices with great concern and consternation the reported statement of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) that the CJI has agreed to the request made by the SCBA to consider elevation of Supreme Court lawyers as judges of High Courts and requested Chief Justices of High Courts to consider lawyers practising in the Supreme Court for elevation to their High Courts.” It statement also states the SCBA has already constituted a ' search committee' for identifying and selecting suitable candidates from the Bar .
The statement was signed by AILU’s President and Member of Parliament Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya and General Secretary P.V. Surendranath.
President of the AILU stated We, as a responsible organization of lawyers concerned with independent and accountable judiciary and a strong Bar, respectfully appeal that this sort of seminal issues may not be decided without affording sufficient opportunity for a thorough democratic and informed debate among all the stakeholders including the Bar Associations of the High Courts. All India Lawyers Union ( AILU ) urges upon Honourable Chief Justice of India to reject the proposal of SCBA and may be kind enough to withdraw instructions , if any given to Honorable Chief Justices of the High Courtsin favour of the proposal of the SCBA , in this regard”, reads the statement.
It has also been alleged that “it would cause far reaching negative consequences, impacting the independence of judiciary and its transparency, and would lead to substitution of the opinion of the High Court Collegium by that of the Supreme Court Collegium, in violation of Article 217 of the Constitution and Constitution Benches decisions of the Supreme Court of India. Therefore they urged the CJI to reject the proposal.