76 advocates designated as ‘Senior’ by Punjab and Haryana High Court

More than a year after the process was initiated, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has designated 76 advocates as ‘Senior Advocates’, including at least five women. The decision, taken by the Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court, marks one of the largest designations in recent years, recognising advocates for their standing, professional eminence and distinction in advocacy.

In all, 210 advocates had applied for the distinction under the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (Designation of Senior Advocates) Rules. Initially, 64 candidates were cleared for designation following interaction, but 12 more names were added after intense deliberations during the Full Court meeting, With the latest designations, the number of Senior Advocates practising before the High Court has crossed 300.

The previous round of designations was carried out in 2021, when 19 advocates were conferred the status.

The conferment, made under the provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961, bestows a special status upon those found deserving of the honour reserved for advocates of exceptional ability, reputation, and integrity. The process, which began in March 2024 with the High Court inviting applications, culminated with the issuance of the notification on October 20. Each of the newly designated Senior Advocates will also be required to undertake 10 pro bono legal aid cases every year, in accordance with the terms of the notification.

Those conferred the honour include Raj Kumar Sharma, Ashit Malik, Ranjan Kumar Handa, Ravi Sodhi, Anil Malhotra, Nareshinder Singh Boparai, Jagdish Manchanda, Amit Sethi, Ajneesh Raj Takkar, Sudeep Mahajan, Jasdeep Singh Toor, Sartej Singh Narula, Manish Jain, Sukhjinder Singh Behl, Sukant Gupta, Inder Pal Singh Doabia, Vikas Singh, Adarsh Kumar Jain, Gurpreet Singh and Kamal Sehgal.

Others include Yogesh Putney, Ashu Mohan Punchhi, Sanjiv Gupta, Jasdeep Singh Gill, Deepender Singh, Mansur Ali, Sunil Kumar Singh Panwar, Raj Kumar (R.K. Arora), Lokesh Sinhal, Mandeep Singh Sachdev, Arvind Moudgil, Satwant Singh Rangi, Ashwani Kumar Talwar, Vikas Chatrath and Pardeep Singh (Poonia).

The list further features Hemant Bassi, Pawan Girdhar, Gautam Dutt, Amardeep Singh (ADS Sukhija), Premjit Singh (Hundal), Anurag Goyal, Sant Pal Singh Sidhu, Promila Nain, Vipin Mahajan, Gurbinder Singh Dhillon (G.B.S. Dhillon), Monica Chhibber, Sarju Puri, Karambir Singh Nalwa, Aman Bahri and Puja Sharma (Puja Chopra).

Also designated are Salil Dev Singh Bali, Sunish Bindlish, Pankaj, Parminder Singh Shekhon, Navdeep Singh, Rajeev Anand, Sandeep Goyal, Ankur Mittal, Ravinder Singh Randhawa, Gaurav Mohunta, Jasdev Singh Mehndiratta, Pradeep Virk, Kunal Dawar, Rahul Sharma, Dheeraj Jain and Divya Sharma.

The list concludes with Ravinder Malik (Ravi), Sarjit Bhadu, Sunil Kumar Nehra, Chanchal Kumar Singla, Maninder Singh, Aman Pal, Kshitij Sharma, Puneet Kaur Sekhon, Preet Inder Singh (Ahluwalia) and Akshay Kumar Jindal.