‘Nobody gets better treatment due to gown’: Supreme Court junks plea over lawyers’ senior designation

Supreme Court rejects plea against Delhi High Court's senior designations, emphasizing equal treatment regardless of gown.

The Supreme Court on Friday (February 7, 2025) said nobody got a better treatment on the basis of their gown and rejected a plea against the Delhi High Court conferring senior designations of 70 lawyers.

A bench of Justices B. R. Gavai and K. Vinod Chandran was hearing a plea filed by advocate Mathews J. Nedumpara and others, including many practising lawyers, challenging the conferment of senior designations to the lawyers by the high court in November last year.

“We don’t see that anybody gets a better treatment in this court merely because he has a different gown,” it observed.

Mr. Nedumpara submitted on how lawyers had to be in a queue to get their matters, including bail applications, listed before the Bombay High Court.

He referred to an instance where a bail matter was posted for hearing after almost six weeks by a judge of the Bombay High Court.

Justice Gavai asked whether he was aware that the judge concerned sat till 7 p.m. in the court to hear matters.

“The judges are also human being… they are trying to do their best,” he said.