Jharkhand Gazette, No. 518, 04 December 2025

click here for IIIF manifest

THE

JHARKHAND GAZETTE

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

3 AGRHAYAN 1947 (S)

No. 518

RANCHI MONDAY 24th November, 2025

HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND, RANCHI

--------

NOTIFICATION

24th November, 2025

No. 10 / 2025 /R&S--

THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND (DESIGNATION OF

SENIOR ADVOCATES) RULES, 2025

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 34(1) read with section

16(2) of the Advocates Act, 1961 and in accordance with the guidelines

laid down by the Supreme Court of India in its judgment dated

13.05.2025 in Criminal Appeal no. 865 of 2025, the High Court of

Jharkhand hereby makes the following rules for designation of an

advocate as a Senior Advocate and matters incidental thereto.

1. Short title and commencement -

i. These Rules shall be called 'The High Court of Jharkhand (Designation of Senior Advocates) Rules, 2025'.

ii. These Rules shall come into force on the date of its notification in the Official Gazette of the State of Jharkhand.

2. Definitions- In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "Advocate" means an Advocate entered in any roll under the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961;

(b) "Permanent Committee" means the Permanent Committee for Designation of Senior Advocates constituted under sub-rule (1) of Rule 3 of these Rules.

(c) "Court" includes any authority exercising judicial powers in the State of Jharkhand.

(d) "High Court" means the High Court of Jharkhand.

(e) "Roll" means the roll of Advocates prepared and maintained under the Advocates Act, 1961;

(f) "Secretariat" means the Secretariat established by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jharkhand under sub-rule (2) of Rule 3 of these Rules.

3. Constitution of the Permanent Committee:

(1) The Permanent Committee shall be headed by the Chief Justice and consist of – (i) The Chief Justice of High Court of Jharkhand - Chairperson (ii) Two senior-most Judges of the High Court - Member (2) The Permanent Committee shall have a Secretariat. The Secretariat of the Chief Justice shall be the Secretariat of the Permanent Committee and the Registrar General of the High Court of Jharkhand shall be the ex-officio Secretary of the Permanent Committee.

(3) The Permanent Committee shall meet at least once in a Calendar year.

4. Qualification for Designation of an Advocate as a Senior

Advocate.-

(i) The Full Court of High Court of Jharkhand is of the opinion that an Advocate by virtue of his ability and standing at the Bar or special knowledge or experience in law is deserving of such distinction so as to be designated as Senior Advocate.

Explanation: The expression "standing at the Bar" means the position of eminence attained by an Advocate at the Bar by virtue of his ability, seniority, legal acumen, special knowledge or experience and high3 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) Monday 24th November, 2025 ethical standards maintained by him or her, both inside and outside the Court.

(ii) An Advocate shall not be eligible to be designated as a Senior Advocate unless he or she has actually practiced as an Advocate for not less than ten years in the High Court of Jharkhand or in any Court subordinate to the High Court of Jharkhand or any tribunal in Jharkhand and has appeared and actually argued in some reported case or cases involving important questions of law.

(iii) The advocate whose name is proposed for being designated as a Senior Advocate or who applies for being designated as a Senior Advocate shall be an income tax assessee as on the date of the recommendation of Full Court /application, for a minimum period of 10 (Ten) years.

5. Initiative for designation as a Senior Advocate.-

(1) An Advocate may be considered for being designated as a Senior Advocate on:

(a) an application is made by the Advocate concerned, in the prescribed Format which shall be taken to get the his/her details & shall be deemed to be his/her consent.

(b) Full Court may take a decision to designate an Advocate as Senior Advocate even without any application by the Advocate concerned.

All the decision of Full Court or the applications shall be submitted to the Secretariat. Provided that every application under sub-clause (1) (a) shall be made in Form No.-1.

(2) Once in every year the Secretariat of the Permanent Committee shall invite applications from members of the Bar Council of the State of Jharkhand to be designated as Senior Advocate by publishing notice to that effect in the website of the High Court of Jharkhand. But the whole process must be concluded within six months from the last date of submission of applications.

(3) The application by an advocate desirous of being designated as Senior Advocate shall be addressed to the Registrar General.

(4) The application shall contain a declaration to the effect that no application to designate him/her as a Senior Advocate has been rejected by the Supreme Court of India or the High Court of Jharkhand or any other High Court, within a period of two years immediately preceding the date of application.

6. Procedure before the Secretariat:

i. All applications or recommendation of Full Court shall be submitted to the Secretariat.

ii. On receipt of such applications or recommendation of Full Court, the Secretariat shall compile the relevant data and information with regard to the reputation, conduct and integrity of the Advocate(s) concerned and verify the details of his/her participation in pro-bono work, if any, reported judgments in which he/she has appeared; the number of such judgments reported during the last five years in the Court.

iii. The source(s) from which information/data will be sought and collected by the Secretariat shall be as decided by the Permanent Committee.

iv. The Secretariat shall publish the recommendation of Full Court/ application for designation of a particular Advocate in the official website of the High Court of Jharkhand inviting the suggestions/views of other stakeholders in the proposed designation within 30 (Thirty) days.

v. The Secretariat shall place the suggestions/views of other stakeholders to the proposed designation before the Permanent Committee for taking further instructions. The Permanent Committee may, if considered fit and necessary, seek the response from the Advocate concerned, on the suggestions/views received in relation to his/her proposed designation within such time as it may deem fit.

vi. The views/suggestions shall be in writing, bear the name and full address of the sender and shall be addressed to the Registrar General of the High Court. Any anonymous petition/representation shall be liable to rejected.

vii. If the Advocate is from any Court subordinate to the High Court of Jharkhand or any tribunal in Jharkhand then opinion of the concerned Administrative Judge is to be recorded.

viii. After the data-base in terms of the above is compiled and all such information as may be specifically directed by the Committee to be obtained in respect of the Advocate is collected, and the suggestions/views of the other stakeholders as also the response from the Advocate, if any, have been received, the Secretariat shall put up the case before the Permanent Committee for scrutiny. The Permanent Committee may take assistance of other Sr. Advocates or academics to assess the quality of writing of the publication, if any, of the Advocate.

7. Procedure before the Permanent Committee:

i. The decision of Full Court/application(s) for designation as Senior Advocate shall be examined by the Permanent Committee in the light of the materials provided by the Secretariat which shall include the suggestions/views of the members of the Bar and other5 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) Monday 24th November, 2025 stakeholders.

ii. The entire records and recommendation of the Permanent Committee shall be forwarded to be placed before the Full Court. 8. Procedure before the Full Court:

i. A recommendation of Full Court/application for designation as a Senior Advocate shall be considered as accepted by the Full Court, if the majority of Judges present are in favour of such recommendation /application.

ii. The Full Court on its own may decide to designate any advocate as Senior Advocate even without such Advocate having applied for it, however the other qualification should be present.

iii. Voting by secret ballot shall be resorted in absence of consensus. In the event of resort to secret ballot, a recommendation /application for designation as a Senior Advocate shall be considered as accepted if majority of the Judges present vote in favour of the recommendation /application.

iv. On the approval of Full Court, an Advocate shall be designated as a Senior Advocate.

v. A recommendation /application that has not found favour by the Full Court, it may be reviewed/reconsidered on the fresh application, after expiry of a period of two years in the manner indicated above.

9. Revocation and Surrender of Designation: (a) The designation of an advocate as a Senior Advocate shall be liable to be revoked after due notice to him/her, if-

i. the Bar Council of India/Bar Council of the State of Jharkhand/Bar Council of any other State finds that he/she has committed professional/other misconduct or if the High Court is otherwise satisfied that he/she has violated all or any provisions of the Rules framed and issued by the High Court of Jharkhand under sub-section (1) of section-34 of the Advocates Act, 1961;

Or

ii. a designated Senior Advocate is guilty of any misconduct which, in the opinion of the High Court, disentitles him/her to continue to be worthy of the designation or if he/she is convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude or for the contempt of the Court;

The Full Court may review and recall its decision to designate him/her as a Senior Advocate after such notice to him/her as may be directed by the Chief Justice. (b) Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, an Advocate who has been designated as a Senior Advocate may surrender the designation conferred on him/her by making an application to withdraw the same to the Registrar General. The Registrar General shall place the application before the Chief Justice for appropriate orders thereon.

10. Notification of designation, revocation or withdrawal of Senior

Designation:

The Registrar General shall notify the fact of designation of an advocate as Senior Advocate or revocation or withdrawal of such designation to the Secretary General, Supreme Court of India, the Bar Council of India, the Bar Council of State of Jharkhand, the Bar Councils of other States and to all the Principal District & Sessions Judges, subordinate to the High Court of Jharkhand, Tribunals in the State of Jharkhand.

The notification shall also be published in the official website of the High Court of Jharkhand and a copy thereof, be communicated to the Judges of the High Court. The Secretariat of the committee shall maintain the record of all the decisions relating to designation/ revocation/withdrawal of designation.

11. Residuary: All pending proposals/applications for designation of an advocate as Senior Advocate shall be returned to the Advocate concerned for applying afresh in accordance with these rules.

12. Canvassing: Canvassing in any form shall disqualify the Advocate concerned from being so designated. 13. Repeal and Savings: All other previous rules, regulations and guidelines for designation of an Advocate as Senior Advocate are hereby repealed. Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules any act done prior to commencement of these rules shall not be invalidated. -----------------------------------

FORM No.1 [Rule 5(1)(a)]

PROFORMA APPLICATION

(To be filled by the Advocate)

Affix

Recent

Passport 1. Name of the Advocate :

2. Permanent Residential Address and

Mobile number of the Advocate:

3. Gender: Male / Female / Transgender:

4. Email Address :

5. Address for correspondence:

6. Educational Qualification with area of specialization in any field of law:

7. Date of Birth :

8. Date and place of enrollment as an Advocate :

9. Ordinary place of practice:

10. Enrollment Number :

11. PAN Number:

12. Have you been a chamber junior to any lawyer? :

If yes, furnish the name of such lawyer(s) and the duration.

13. Is any junior lawyer attached to your chamber?

If yes, furnish the name of such lawyer(s) and the duration.

14. Since when have you been an assessee under the Income Tax Act, 1961: [Attach copy of ITR filed of last 10 Years]8 Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) Monday 24th November, 2025 15. List of important cases in which you have appeared as counsel and argued:

16. Number of book Publication or publication in any legal journal to credit?

Give details:

17. List of pro-bono work done by you:

18. Whether you have delivered Guest Lectures. If yes, details thereof:

19. Have you been found guilty of misconduct by the Bar Counsel of India/ Bar Counsel of the State of Jharkhand or any other State Bar Counsel or is any such proceeding for misconduct is pending? Give details:

20. Have you been convicted for any offence(s) involving moral turpitude or is any such proceeding is pending against you? Give details:

21. Whether any proposal/application for designating you as a Senior Advocate had earlier been made to the High Court of Jharkhand?

If yes, with what result?

22. Attach (Pin) four recent passport size color photographs.

I do hereby express and give my consent to be designated as a Senior Advocate by the High Court of Jharkhand.

Dated: SIGNATURE OF ADVOCATE --------

Printed & Published by the Superintendent of Jharkhand Government Press, Doranda, Ranchi. Jharkhand Gazette (Extraordinary) 518-- 50.