SC designates 11 women lawyers as senior advocates in one go

New Delhi: In a first, the Supreme Court on Friday designated 11 women lawyers as senior advocates in one go.

A committee headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud designated 56 lawyers and advocate-on-record (AoR) as senior advocates, 11 of them women.

The apex court had on the last occasion designated 18 lawyers as senior advocates in 2021.

"The Chief Justice of India and the judges of the Supreme Court of India in a full court meeting held on Friday, January 19, 2024, have been pleased to designate the following advocates-on record/advocates as senior advocates with effect from January 19, 2024...," said a notification issued by the apex court.

Advocates Shobha Gupta, Karuna Nundy, Swarupama Chaturvedi, Archana Pathak Dave and Shirin Khajuria are among the 11 women lawyers who have been designated as senior advocates.

The committee headed by the CJI interviewed 200 applicants after which the list designating 56 lawyers as senior advocates was released.

Out of the 56 names, 34 lawyers are first generation advocates, which included 8 women.

Others names designated as senior advocates includes lawyers Gaurav Agrawal, Mohd Shoeb Alam, Amit Anand Tiwari, Ardhendumauli Kumar Prasad, Sunil Fernandes, Tapesh Kumar Singh and Gagan Gupta.

Besides this, the apex court also gets 198 new AoRs.

The CJI congratulated the newly enrolled AoRs after the day's court proceedings.

Justice Chandrachud expressed happiness that several women lawyers have cleared the AoR examination.

According to the rules framed by the Supreme Court under Article 145 of the Constitution, only advocates designated as advocate-on-record can file cases in the apex court, which conducts AoR examinations twice a year.