HC questions rules allowing preferential allotment of lawyers’ chambers

In a double blow to entrenched privilege in the legal profession, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday questioned the constitutional validity of rules that allow lawyers’ chambers to be passed down like family heirlooms and directed the Union Government to explain how it appointed over 650 advocates, several of them enrolled only in 2024-2025 and allegedly yet to clear the mandatory All-India Bar Examination, as Central Government counsel in the Supreme Court.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela on Wednesday heard

two public interest litigations filed by the First Generation Lawyers’ Association (FGLA) that directly challenge nepotism and opacity in Delhi’s legal ecosystem.

In the first matter, the court took strong exception to Rule 5A of the 1980 Delhi High Court Lawyers’ Chambers (Allotment and Occupancy) Rules, which grants automatic and preferential allotment of chambers to spouses, sons or daughters of retiring or deceased advocates.

“How do you justify such rules? Can this be a reasonable ground to allow someone to jump the queue? The discrimination is writ large,” the Bench remarked, adding that the allotments prima facie violate Article 14 (equality before law).

Issuing notices to the Bar Council of India, Bar Council of Delhi, Delhi High Court Bar Association and the High Court itself, the court fixed the next hearing for February 13, 2026.

The PIL highlighted that thousands of young and first-generation lawyers struggle without functional workspace, while several chambers remain locked for years, retained by allottees who rarely practice in Delhi or hold multiple chambers across courts.

In the second public interest litigation heard the same day, the same Bench sought the Centre’s stand on the Ministry of Law & Justice’s November 21 notification empanelling more than 650 advocates to represent the Union in the Supreme Court.

The petition alleged that several appointees enrolled with state bar councils only in 2024 or 2025 have not yet cleared the All-India Bar Examination, rendering them ineligible to practice law, let alone argue for the government in the apex court.

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma was asked to take instructions.

First Generation Lawyers’ Association president Rudra Vikram Singh welcomed the court’s intervention.