THE ADVOCATES ACT, 1961

English — official source version

the_designation_of_senior_advocate_rules,_2018.pdf.txt

HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL  

NOTIFICATION 

No. 368/UHC/ Admin. A/2018       Dated: November 30, 2018, 

(as amended by Not. No. 168 dated 20.05.2022, Not. No. 303 dated 17.08.2023 & Not. No. 

311 dated 28.08.2023 ) 

    THE DESIGNATION OF SENIOR ADVOCATE RULES, 2018 

1. Short title, extent and commencement :- (1) These Rules shall be called 'Uttarakhand 

High Court (Designation of Senior Advocates) Rules, 2018' 

(2) These Rules shall extend to the entire jurisdiction of the High Court of Uttarakhand. 

(3) These Rules shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official 

Gazette. 

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

(a) An "Advocate" for the purposes of the present Rules would mean an Advocate as defined 

in the Advocate's Act, 1961 and whose name figures on the rules prepared by the State Bar 

Council of Uttarakhand; and in addition he/she should also be a member of the recognized Bar 

Association of Uttarakhand High Court for the last 5 years, and where his original registration is 

not with the Bar Council of Uttarakhand then, in that case, he/she should have been validly 

transferred to the rolls of the Bar Council of Uttarakhand, at least five years prior to his 

candidature being considered as a Senior Advocate. 

(b) "Committee" means the "Permanent Committee" for Designation of Senior Advocates 

as constituted under sub-rule (1) of Rule 3 of these Rules; 

(c) "Court" means the same as defined in the Rules of the Court. 1952; 

(d) "High Court" means the some as defined in Section 2 (g) of the Advocate's Act 1961; 

(e) "Roll" means the roll of Advocates prepared and maintained under the provisions of the 

Rules of Court, 1952, as applicable in the High Court; 

(f) "Secretariat" means the Permanent Secretariat established by the Chief Justice of the 

High Court under sub-rule (2) of Rule 3 of these Rules. 

3, Permanent Committee for designation of Senior Advocates:- (1) All matters relating to 

designation of Senior Advocates in the High Court shall be dealt with by the Permanent 

Committee, which will be headed by the Chief Justice, and shall consist of the two Senior-

most Judges of the High Court; the Advocate General of the State of Uttarakhand; and a 

designated Senior Advocate of the Bar to be nominated by the members of the Committee. 

(2) The Committee, constituted under sub-rule (1), shall have a Secretariat, the composition 

of which will be decided by the Chief Justice of the High Court, in consultation with the other 

members of the Committee. 



(3) The Committee may issue such directions, from time to time, as are deemed necessary 

regarding the functioning of the Secretariat, including the manner in which, and the sources from 

which, the necessary data and information, with regard to designation of Senior Advocates, are to 

be collected, compiled and presented. 

4. Designation of an Advocate as Senior Advocate:- (1) The High Court may 

designate an Advocate as a Senior Advocate, if in its opinion, by virtue of his/her ability and 

standing at the Bar, the said Advocate is deserving of such distinction. 

Explanation: The term "standing at the Bar" means position of respect and eminence attained by 

an Advocate at the Bar by virtue of his/her seniority, legal acumen, and high ethical standards 

maintained by him, both inside and outside the Court, and who is an advocate as defined under 

rule 2(a) and has put in at least ten years of actual practice as an advocate. 

5. Motion for Designation as a Senior Advocate:- Designation of an Advocate, as a 

Senior Advocate by the High Court, may be considered 

(a) On the written proposal made by the Chief Justice or any sitting Judge of the High Court of 

Uttarakhand. 

[Provided where a sitting Judge has made a proposal for an advocate, he shall not be making a 

similar proposal for that advocate or for any other advocate for a period of two years.) 

(b) On the written application submitted by an Advocate, recommended by two designated 

Senior Advocates. 

[Provided further that such designated Senior Advocates, who have made such a 

recommendation, will not be making a similar recommendation for that advocate or for any 

other advocate for a period of two years.) 

6. Procedure for Designation:- (1) All the written proposals and applications for designation 

of an Advocate as a Senior Advocate shall be submitted to the Secretariat. 

Provided that every application by an advocate shall be made in Form No. 1 of APPENDIX-

A appended to these Rules. 

Provided further that, in case the proposal emanates from a Judge, it need not be submitted in a 

prescribed form. However once the proposal is received, the Secretariat shall request such 

advocate to submit Form No 1 duly filled in within such time as may be directed by the 

Committee and, in such case, the application in Form-I shall be filled within the time directed 

by the Committee. The requirement of having recommendation of two Senior Advocates would 

stand dispensed with, in such cases. 

(2) 1[On receipt of an application or proposal for designation of an Advocate as a Senior 

Advocate, the Secretariat shall compile the relevant data and information with regard to the 

1 Substituted by Not. No. 303/UHC/Admin.A/2023, dated 17.08.2023 

                                                           



reputation, conduct, integrity of the advocate concerned including his participation in pro bono 

work, reported judgments of the last five years in which the concerned advocate has appeared 

and has actually argued and five of best synopsis, as submitted by an Advocate for evaluation.] 

(3) The Secretarial will notify the proposed names of the advocates to be designated as 

Senior Advocates on the official website of the High Court of Uttarakhand, inviting suggestions 

and views within such time as may be fixed by the Committee. 

(4) After the material, in terms of the above, is compiled and all such information, as may 

be specifically required by the Committee to be obtained in respect of any particular candidate, 

has been obtained and the suggestions and views have been received, the Secretariat shall put 

up the case before the Committee for scrutiny. 

(5) On the case being put up by the Secretariat, the Committee shall examine the same in 

the light of the material provided and, if it so desires, may also interact with the concerned 

advocate(s) and, thereafter, make its overall assessment on the basis of the point based format 

provided in APPENDIX-B to these Rules. 

(6) After overall assessment by the Committee, all the names listed before it will be 

submitted to the Full Court along with its Assessment Report. 

      (7) The Full Court shall make all endeavour to first take a decision on the basis of 

consensus, and as far as possible, the decision shall be unanimous. Failing this, open voting 

may be resorted to, in which the Hon'ble Chief Justice/Acting Chief Justice will not participate. 

In the event of voting, the views of the majority of the Judges, present and voting, shall 

constitute the decision of the Full Court. In case the Judges present be equally divided, the 

Chief Justice/Acting Chief Justice present shall have the casting vote. 

      (8) The cases, that have not been favourably considered by the Full Court, may be 

reviewed/reconsidered after expiry of a period of two years, following the same procedure as is 

prescribed above, as if the proposal is being considered afresh. 

7. Designation of Advocates as Senior Advocates:- by the Chief Justice:- (1) On the 

approval of the name of the Advocate by the Full Court, the Chief Justice shall designate such 

an advocate as a Senior Advocate under Section 16 of the Advocate's Act, 1961. 

 

    (2) The Registrar General shall notify the designation to the Secretary General of the 

Supreme Court of India, the Bar Council of Uttarakhand, the Bar Council of India and also to 

all the District and Sessions Judges subordinate to the High Court. 

   (3) A record of the proceedings of the Committee, and the record received from the Full Court 

in this regard, shall be maintained by the Permanent Secretariat for future reference- 



8. Restrictions on Designated Senior Advocates:- A senior Advocate shall be subject 

to such restrictions as the Supreme Court, High Court, the Bar Council of India or the Bar 

Council of the State may prescribe from time to time. 

9. Canvassing:- Canvassing in any manner, by a nominee/applicant for designation as a 

Senior Advocate, shall disqualify him/her from being so considered or designated for the next 

five years. 

10. Interpretation:- All questions relating to the interpretation of these Rules shall be 

referred to the Chief Justice, whose decision thereon shall be final. 

11. Review and Recall: (1) if, after being designated as a Senior Advocate, it is reported 

by a Judge of the Court, that, by virtue of his/her conduct or behavior either inside or outside the 

Court, he/she has forfeited his/her privilege to the distinction conferred upon him/her by the 

Court, the matter may be placed by the Chief Justice before the Full Court for consideration of 

withdrawal of the designation as Senior Advocate. If the Full Court is of the view that the 

Senior Advocate, by virtue of his/her conduct or behavior inside or outside the Court, has 

disentitled himself/herself to be worthy of the designation, the Full Court may review its earlier 

decision to designate the concerned person and recall the same. 

(2) The procedure for review and recall shall be the same as provided under sub-rule (7) of 

Rule 6 After approval by the Full Court, the Chief Justice shall recall the designation of such 

Senior Advocate. The Registrar General shall notify the decision in the same manner as is 

provided in sub-rule (2) of Rule 7 of these Rules. 

12. Repeal and Saving:- All previous Rules, except Rule 11 of Chapter XXIV of Allahabad 

High Court Rules, 1952, on the subject matter covered by these Rules including the guidelines 

for designating an advocate as a Senior Advocate are hereby repealed. However, this repeal 

shall not, by itself, invalidate the action taken under the repealed rules/guidelines. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

[APPENDIX-A  

{SEE Rule  6(1)}  

Form No. 1  

Form of Application for designation as Senior Advocate 

 

 

 

 

 

1.  Name  

2.  Father’s/husband’s name  

3.  Address Permanent Address  

Correspondence Address 

4.  If you belong  to a minority community, pleases give 

the particulars 

 

5.  If you belong to a community for which the 

Constitution and the laws provide for reservation in 

service and education, please give the particulars  

 

6.  Age/ Date of Birth  

7.  Environment No. Bar Council& Enrollment Date 

(Enclose copy) 

 

8.  If you have been transferred to the Rolls of the 

Uttarakhand State Bar Council, Please state the date of 

transfer. 

 

9.  Name of the Bar Association/Associations of which 

he/she is a member 

 

10.  When were you enrolled as a member of the 

Uttarakhand High Court Bar Association. 

 

11.  Number of years of practice, and in which Court/s  

12.  If specialized in any branch of Law, please give the 

particulars 

 

Latest passport 
size 

photograph of 
Applicant 



13.  Aadhaar No. (Enclose Copy)  

PAN Card No. (Enclose Copy) 

14.  Year from which he/she became an Income tax 

assesses. in respect of the professional income 

(enclose copies of relevant documents) 

 

15.  Average net professional income for the past five 

years (Gross professions Income — deductions i.e. 

professional Income on which tax was actually 

paid). 

 

16.  Professional Qualification (Enclose Copy)  

17.  Additional Qualification  

18.  Phone No.  

E-mail 

19.  Whether he/she is, or has been in the panel of 

Advocates of the State of Central Government or a 

public sector undertaking. or a statutory body, or 

institution. If so, details thereof. 

 

20.  Particulars of important matters involving 

question of law in which he/she appeared in the 

last five years, and particulars of at least ten 

citations of such reported cases during this period. 

 

21.  Names and particulars of Advocates associated 

with him/her in his/her chamber/office 

 

22.  Particulars of cases in which he/she appeared as an 

arguing Counsel, on behalf of another Advocate, 

(not being an advocate from his/her 

chamber/office), during the preceding five years, 

and the name and particulars of the Advocates on 

whose behalf he/she appeared 

 

23.  Particulars of articles, lf any, published in any 

journal or books, if any, authored. 

 



24.  Whether associated with any faculty of Law (If so, 

the particulars thereof) 

 

25.  Particulars of the cases in which he/she provided 

free legal aid. 

 

26.  Particulars of the pro bona work performed.  

27.  Whether or not his/her name was  considered for 

being designated as Senior Advocate within the last 

two years. 

 

28.  2[Whether he/she has been convicted in any criminal 

case or found guilty in any disciplinary proceedings by 

the State Bar Council. If so, the details thereof. 

 

29.  Whether he/she has been punished in any contempt 

proceeding. 
 

30.  Whether any adverse remark has ever been passed 

against him/her in any order/judgement by any Court 

of law. If so, enclose copy thereof. 

 

31.  Whether he/she is involved in any collateral 

activities which may disqualify him/her for being 

designated as a Senior Advocate] 

 

 

 

 

  (SIGNATURE OF THE APPLICANT) 

I, the under signed advocate, practicing in the State of Uttarakhand, submit my application for 

being designated as a Senior Advocate, and give my consent to be so designated by the High 

Court, 

Dated 

(Signature) 

  

2 As amended by Uttarakhand High Court Not. No. 311/UHC/Admin.A/2023, dated August 28th, 
2023 

                                                           



[APPENDIX-B 

[See Rule 6 (5)] 

POINT BASED FORMAT FOR ASSESSMENT OF AN ADVOCATE FOR BEING 

DESIGNATED AS SENIOR ADVOCATE 

No. Matter Points 
1[1 Number of years of practice of the Applicant 

Advocate from the date of enrolment (10 

points for 10 years of practice and one mark 

each shall be allotted for every year of 

practice between ten to twenty years, 20 

points for practice beyond 20 years) 

20 ] 

2[2. Judgments (reported and unreported) which 

indicate the legal formulations advanced by 

the concerned Advocate in the course of the 

proceedings of the case; pro bono work done 

by the concerned Advocate; domain Expertise 

of the Applicant Advocate in various branches 

of law, such as constitutional law, Inter-State 

Water Disputes, Criminal law, Arbitration 

law, Corporate law, Taxation laws, Family 

law, Human Rights, Public Interest Litigation, 

International law, law relation to women, etc. 

Five of best synopsis as submitted for 

evaluation 

50] 

3[3. Publications by the Applicant Advocate 05] 
4[4.  Test of Personality & Suitability on the 

basis of interview/ interaction 

25 ] 

1. Substituted by Noti. No. 168/UHC/Admin.A/2022, dated 20.05.2022 

2. Substituted by Not. No. 303/UHC/Admin.A/2023, dated 17.08.2023 

3. Substituted by Not. No. 303/UHC/Admin.A/2023, dated 17.08.2023 

4. Substituted by Noti. No. 168/UHC/Admin.A/2022, dated 20.05.2022