In a landmark decision reflecting the judiciary’s commitment to recognizing legal excellence and promoting diversity, the Allahabad High Court has unanimously approved the designation of 90 distinguished advocates as Senior Advocates during its Full Court meeting. Notably, 5 of the 90 designees are women, marking a significant step toward greater gender representation in the senior Bar.
The designations, divided between the Allahabad and the Lucknow Bench, constitute one of the largest single batches in recent years, honoring practitioners who have demonstrated exceptional proficiency, integrity, and contributions to the legal profession.
The designation of Senior Advocate is a prestigious honor conferred under Section 16 of the Advocates Act, 1961, and the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the Indira Jaising v. Supreme Court of India (2017) judgment, which emphasize merit, experience, and ethical standing. Candidates are evaluated on parameters such as years of practice (typically a minimum of 10-15 years), expertise in constitutional, civil, criminal, or service matters, pro bono contributions, and overall impact on jurisprudence.
Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court presided over the Full Court meeting, where all judges participated in the deliberations. The process involved scrutiny of applications, interviews, and assessments by a designated committee before the final unanimous approval. This batch includes a diverse mix of advocates specializing in various fields, many of whom have argued landmark cases before the High Court, Supreme Court, and tribunals.
Advocates Designated at Allahabad (63)
The Allahabad seat saw 63 advocates designated as Senior Advocate:
- Ajay Kumar Singh
- Akhilesh Kumar Srivastava
- Akhilesh Singh
- Amit Krishan
- Brij Bhushan Paul
- Alok Kumar Yadav
- Amit Daga
- Anil Kumar Mehrotra
- Anita Tripathi (Female)
- Anoop Kumar Srivastava
- Anupam Kulshreshtha
- Anurag Pathak
- Apul Misra
- Archana Singh (Female)
- Arti Raje (Female)
- Ashish Kumar Singh
- Ashok Shankar Bhatnagar (Ashok Bhatnagar)
- Bala Nath Mishra (B. N. Mishra)
- Basharat Ali Khan
- Bidhan Chandra Rai (B. C. Rai)
- Bushra Maryam (Ms.) (Female)
- Chandra Prakash Upadhyay (Dr. C. P. Upadhyay)
- Desh Ratan Chaudhary
- Dhirendra Kumar Srivastava
- Durgesh Kumar Singh
- Gaurav Kakkar
- Hanuman Prasad Dube (H.P. Dube)
- Imran Mabood Khan
- Imran Ullah
- Indira Raj Singh (Female)
- Krishna Mohan Misra
- Mahboob Ahmad
- Mahendra Pratap
- Mukhtar Alam
- Naresh Chandra Tripathi (N.C. Tripathi)
- Naveen Chandra Gupta
- Nikhil Agrawal
- Nipun Singh
- Prabhakar Awasthi
- Prakash Chandra Srivastava (P.C. Srivastava)
- Rahul Agarwal
- Rahul Mishra
- Raj Kumar Khanna
- Ramendra Pratap Singh
- Sanjay Goswami
- Sanjeev Singh
- Santosh Kumar Tripathi
- Sarvesh
- Sharve Singh
- Shashi Kant Shukla
- Shri Krishna Mishra
- Siddhartha Srivastava
- Sudhir Dixit
- Sunil Kumar Tripathi
- Sushil Kumar Shukla
- Swapnil Kumar
- Swetashwa Agarwal
- Syed Ali Murtuza Naqvi
- Tarun Agrawal
- Triveni Shankar
- Umesh Vats
- Vidhu Bhushan Singh
- Vikrant Rana
Advocates Designated at Lucknow Bench (27)
The Lucknow Bench contributed 27 names:
- Alka Verma (Female)
- Amarendra Nath Tripathi
- Anand Mani Tripathi
- Anil Pratap Singh
- Anuj Kudesia
- Anurag Shukla
- Arun Sinha
- Brijesh Kumar Shukla (B. K. Shukla)
- Dhruv Mathur
- Gaurav Mehrotra
- Girish Chandra Verma
- Harendra Prakash Srivastava (H.P. Srivastava)
- Mukund Tewari
- Pradeep Agrawal
- Prashant Singh Atal
- Pritish Kumar
- Purnendu Chakravarty
- Rakesh Kumar Chaudhary
- Salil Kumar Srivastava
- Sameer Kalia
- Santosh Kr. Yadav “Warsi”
- Sharad Pathak
- Shiv Prakash Shukla
- Sudeep Kumar
- Vaibhav Kalia
- Vinod Kumar Shahi
- Yadukul Shiromani Srivastava (Y.S. Lohit)
