SCAORA acting beyond its mandate: SCBA president to CJI Gavai

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Bar Association president on Wednesday wrote to Chief Justice of India Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai accusing the top court's advocates on record association of "overstepping" its mandate.

The SCBA claimed that the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) had issued communications on matters relating to the general infrastructure and bar members of the top court.

In his letter to the CJI, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Vikas Singh said he wanted to ensure that the functioning of this institution remained "cohesive, disciplined, and free from unnecessary overlaps" or conflicts-particularly in matters concerning the general interests of the bar or Supreme Court infrastructure.

He underlined the need to promote a unified voice within the bar while ensuring "seamless collaboration" and respect for institutional integrity and maintaining harmony between the bar and the bench.

"Surprisingly, in the recent times, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA), while acting beyond its mandate, has been issuing communications on matters relating to the general infrastructure, facilities and issues concerning general Bar members of the Supreme Court. These subjects strictly fall within the exclusive domain of SCBA, which represents the collective interests of all categories of lawyers practising in the Supreme Court," Singh's letter said.

He continued, "SCBA today comprises 22,734 members, which include 10,013 permanent members and 12,309 temporary members. There are 401 pending membership requests at present. These 22,734 members include 906 senior advocates, AoRs, and about 19,000 non-AoR practitioners."

Notably, Singh said, there were 3,786 AoRs registered with the Supreme Court as of now and 3,000 of them were members of the SCAORA.

"In that view of the matter, SCAORA does not even represent all AoRs registered in Supreme Court." Referring to a recent issue raised by the SCAORA to the secretary general, Supreme Court on biometric entry for lawyers, Singh said there was absolutely no question of members of the bar voluntarily offering such extensive personal information to the registry of the Supreme Court.

"If on the other hand, there is any mandate from the Supreme Court, for security reasons, upon discussion with the SCBA, the Bar would, of course, fully cooperate," the letter said.

Singh said sharing such biometric data by lawyers could be counter effective, considering the increased instances of breach of data privacy.

He said SCAORA's scope should be limited to issues "concerning AoR practice" such as matters related to filing procedures, registry protocols, and AoR- specific concerns.

The letter claimed that the SCBA, and not the SCAORA, was the only recognised court-annexed bar association that represented the members regularly practising in the Supreme Court.