SCAORA Acting Beyond Mandate By Addressing General Bar Issues Like Biometric Entry For Lawyers: SCBA President Writes To CJI

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Vikas Singh has written to CJI BR Gavai, addressing the issue of overstepping of mandate by the Supreme Court AOR Association (SCAORA) 

The letter states that the intention behind the concerns raised by SCBA is to ensure that there remains a 'unified voice within the bar' when it comes to issues relating to Supreme Court lawyers 

"Sir, I am placing these concerns on record to set the matter straight and to ensure that the functioning of this institution remains cohesive, disciplined, and free from unnecessary overlaps or conflicts-particularly in matters concerning the general interests of the Bar or the infrastructure of the Supreme Court. The purpose of this communication is to promote a unified voice within the Bar, ensuring seamless collaboration and respect for institutional integrity, while maintaining harmony between the Bar and Bench." 

Singh has stressed recent incidents where SCAORA was going beyond the scope of its defined role and functions. Singh asserted that it is the SCBA which represents the Supreme Court lawyers in totality, and the sole responsibility of raising issues relating to the lawyers should lie with the SCBA only. 

The statement explained : 

"Surprisingly, in the recent times, 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 practicing in the Supreme Court. 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 19000 non-AoR practitioners. Notably, the AoRs registered with the Supreme Court as on date are 3786 in number, while only about 3000 of them are members of SCAORA. In that view of the matter, SCAORA does not even represent all AoRs registered in Supreme Court." 

The letter also stressed that 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 also mentioned the recent issue raised by SCAORA in its letter dated June 2 to the Secretary General, Supreme Court on biometric entry for lawyers.  It stated : 

"A recent instance of SCAORA going beyond its mandate is the letter Ref. No.213 SCAORA.2025 dated 02.06.2025 issued by the Secretary of SCAORA to Mr. Shekhar C. Munghate, Secretary General, Supreme Court of India, regarding biometric entry for lawyers, presented as being on behalf of the entire Bar. There is 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." 

It highlighted that sharing such biometric data by lawyers could be counter-effective, considering the increased instances of breach of data privacy. Additionally, the present proximity card system for the lawyers is working with efficiency and has reported no issues, the letter explained. 

The letter referred to the Supreme Court decision in the Supreme Court Bar Assn. v. B.D. Kaushik, where the Court "has recognized that the Supreme Court Bar Association is the only association that represents the interests of all its members including Senior Advocates, Advocates as well as AoRs practicing in the Supreme Court of India." 

It further states that since the SCBA is the only recognised court-annexed bar association as per the decision in BD Kaushik, SCAORA can only be considered a subset of SCBA. 

"Clearly, the Supreme Court Bar Association is the only recognized court-annexed bar association in terms of the above judgment of this Hon'ble Court that represents the members regularly practising in the Supreme Court and not the Supreme Court AoR Association/SCAORA. Given that SCAORA is considered a sub-set of the SCBA, its members are not precluded from voting in SCBA elections under the 'one-bar-one- vote' principle."