In a strongly worded letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, Senior Advocate and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Dr. Vikas Singh, has raised serious concerns over the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) allegedly overstepping its mandate.
Dr. Singh emphasized that while SCAORA is a recognized body for Advocates-on-Record (AoRs), it is a sub-set of the SCBA and cannot claim to represent the entire Bar at the Supreme Court. His letter comes in the backdrop of a recent communication from SCAORA’s Secretary to the Supreme Court Registry, proposing biometric entry for lawyers — a move Dr. Singh claims was made without consulting the SCBA or the wider legal community.
Highlighting the differences in roles, Dr. Singh noted that SCBA, established in 1951, is the only court-annexed Bar Association officially recognized by the judiciary to represent the collective interests of all practicing lawyers at the Supreme Court, including Senior Advocates, AoRs, and others. SCAORA, formed in 1985, was designed to serve the specific needs of AoRs, and its members must first be SCBA members under its own rules.
Dr. Singh further argued that SCAORA has recently been making representations on matters like infrastructure, security, and general facilities — domains that fall exclusively within SCBA’s purview. He stated that such actions risk undermining the unified voice of the Bar and could lead to administrative confusion and privacy concerns, especially in an era of increasing data sensitivity.
Quoting the Supreme Court’s landmark judgments in Supreme Court Bar Assn. v. B.D. Kaushik (2011) and Gopal Jha v. Supreme Court of India (2019), Dr. Singh reaffirmed that SCBA is the only court-recognized Bar Association mandated to coordinate with the judiciary on matters of Bar infrastructure and welfare. These rulings also clarify that SCBA membership is a prerequisite for chamber allotment and that SCAORA cannot function independently of SCBA in such matters.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Singh urged the Chief Justice to take note of the issue to maintain institutional cohesion and discipline. “The purpose of this communication is to promote a unified voice within the Bar,” he wrote, “while ensuring seamless collaboration and respect for institutional integrity.”
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