NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday said it will set up a a permanent committee headed by the Chief Justice of India to decide which lawyers are to be given seniority.The five-member committee will include the most senior Supreme Court judge and high court judge and a representative of the concerned bar . "Conferring senior advocate designation will no longer be the sole discretion of judges. Those rejected will be eligible for reconsideration only after a gap of two years, the SC said.The top court also proposed setting up of a secretariat which will collate applications and details to confer seniority to lawyers. "A senior advocate guilty of professional misconduct or other offence would face proceedings for withdrawal of designation," the SC said.The SC said that its condition for seniority appear to be stricter than those for appointing SC and HC judges. "The elaborate and stringent exercise for senior designation appears tougher than the existing scrutiny for appointment of Judges to HCs and SC."

Source: Times of India October 12, 2017 06:13 UTC