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Synopsis

The Supreme Court has said that allotment of a lawyer's chamber in its premises, highly coveted in view of long queue, can be made to the surviving children or spouse of the deceased advocate only if he or she is practising at the court on the date of the death, not on the date of consideration of their application.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted that Rule 7B of Lawyers’ Chambers (Allotment and Occupancy) Rules (as amended on 3rd March, 2023) provides that in case of death of an allottee of a chamber, the children of the allottee may be allotted a portion of the chamber if the allotment committee is satisfied that such person is practising in the Supreme Court. There is also a provision to allot only one-half of the chamber, to the surviving child/spouse, it said.

"In our understanding, the right for consideration under Rule 7B accrues on the date of death of the allottee. This will avoid any inconsistency in the manner of consideration," the court said.

The court pointed out that Rule 7B shows that the right of consideration accrues on the death of the allottee. The said date cannot be shifted on the basis of the date of consideration of the application for allotment by the children of the allottee, court said.

There could be cases when the committee may not be able to consider an application immediately on death. There could also be a situation of the application being kept pending for one reason or the other. Therefore, if either the date of consideration of the application or the date of qualification of the applicant is taken into consideration, the operation of Rule 7B will be inconsistent and will generate different results, the bench explained.

The court dismissed a writ petition filed by one Anamika Dewan as devoid of merit. 

The petitioner's father, an advocate on record was allotted a chamber in 2006-07 and he died on June 13, 2021. The petitioner got enrolled as a lawyer only on July 22, 2023. Her application for allotment of the father's chamber was not favourably considered.

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the petitioner submitted that on the date when the petitioner’s application came to be considered on July 20, 2023, the petitioner had already qualified as a lawyer.

The allotment can be made by sympathetically applying the provisions of Rule 7B of the Rules, she said.

Interpreting Rule 7B, the bench said a lawyer’s chamber within the premises of the Supreme Court is highly coveted by lawyers and there is a huge number of lawyers with much longer standing, waiting in queue, for allotment of chambers and it can not also be overlooked that chambers become available only rarely, usually on account of the death of the allottee.

"The petitioner was not a practising lawyer in the Supreme Court when her father died on 13.06.2021. Therefore, on the date of the death of the allottee, she is dis-entitled to favourable consideration, under the provisions of Rule 7B of the allotment Rules," the bench said.

Having noted that the chamber is kept locked, the court allowed the petitioner to remove the belongings from the allotted chamber, on a date convenient to the authorities and to her.

Case Title: Anamika Dewan Vs Registrar Supreme Court of India & Ors