‘Select only competent lawyers as judges’

JAIPUR: The Bar Council of Rajasthan (BCR), a statutory body of lawyers, on Thursday opposed the names of a few advocates being recommended by a collegium of judges of the high court to be sent to Supreme Court for elevation as additional judges in the high court and demanded that only competent lawyers shall elevated to the bench.The members of the Bar Council met the Chief Justice and later held a press conference on the issue.“We have come to know that five lawyers, J P Goyal and P K Kasliwal from Jaipur and Dinesh Mehta, Sanjeev Johri and Vineet Mathur from Jodhpur, have been recommended by a collegium headed by Chief Justice Amitava Roy. We have met the Chief Justice and told him categorically that the proposed names have been put through only because they are either the sons of Supreme Court judges or have some close nexus with them or have stayed in their chambers in their early part of practice as apprentices and that the Bar Council totally oppose the action of the high court in recommending the names of these lawyers without considering other merits and suitability for appointment as judges,” said Sanjay Sharma, chairman, Bar Council of Rajasthan.The Bar Council has also decided to send a list of competent and eligible lawyers from all over the state to the Chief Justice for consideration for elevation to bench. “It has become a practice that only those lawyers who appear regularly in high courts are being considered for elevation to bench. Even the selections have been made in pick and choose manner. We will not tolerate any favouritism in elevation to bench now onwards,” said Sharma. The press conference was also attended by senior advocate and member of BCR, Biri Singh Sinisinwar, Anil Mehta, and Vijay Pooniya. Supporting the move, president of Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, Jodhpur, Ranjeet Joshi said: “It has become a cumbersome task for a dedicated and committed lawyer to become a high court judge these days. We have resolved that we will not allow only relatives of judges to be elevated or caste factor to be a consideration.”The Bar Council also blamed Chief Justice Amitava Roy for his inaction against the tainted judicial officer whose name surfaced in the LDC appointment scam unearthed by Anti Corruption Bureau recently.