In A First, Supreme Court Full Bench Decides To Issue Showcause Notice To Senior Advocate

The Supreme Court has decided to issue a showcause notice to a senior advocate asking why the designation conferred upon him by the apex court should not be revoked.

The unprecedented decision comes in the wake of allegations of misconduct against senior advocate Rishi Malhotra.

A full court, convened by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, and comprising all apex court judges on the administrative side unanimously decided on the decision.

The top court had passed strictures against Malhotra on Feb. 20.

He is accused of suppressing material facts in multiple cases of premature release of prisoners aside from making misleading statements despite warnings of the top court.

The full court, which authorised its secretary general Bharat Parashar, to issue the showcause notice, said Malhotra should be given one more opportunity to explain his conduct before being stripped off the senior designation.

In its Feb. 20 verdict, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih flagged his conduct in a recent case while accusing him of not disclosing that the top court had barred the convict's remission for 30 years.

Similarly, Malhotra was found by the court to have misled the apex court on other occasions.

"We make it clear that we are not recording any final finding against Rishi Malhotra, senior advocate, on the question whether his designation can be withdrawn. We leave it to the Chief Justice of India to take a call on this issue," it had said.

The bench said what it had reproduced was "borne out from the record".

Malhotra, it said, was designated as a senior advocate on Aug. 14, 2024.

"The conduct of the advocate reflected from the orders of this court passed in this very appeal, and other cases where the advocate appeared raises an important question of whether the decisions of this court in the case of Indira Jaising-I and Indira Jaising-II, which lay down the guidelines for designation of senior advocates by this Court and high courts across the country under the 1961 Act, need reconsideration," it added.

The bench wondered if the system of senior designation set up under these decisions had "really worked effectively".

"A serious introspection is required to answer the question of whether the rules framed in terms of the said decisions have ensured that only deserving advocates are being designated," it said.

The bench said it neither could disagree with the two binding decisions nor take a contrary view.

"However, all that we are doing is expressing a few serious doubts and concerns. We propose to direct that this issue be placed before the Chief Justice of India to consider whether the issue needs to be reconsidered by a Bench of appropriate strength," it said.