Coming to the defense of young advocates, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Prasanna B. Varale expressed their disapproval over the frowned-upon practice of Senior Adovcates appearing during court vacation.

Such observation of the court stems from the hearing of Arvind Dham Versus Directorate of Enforcement, where Senior Advocate Mr. Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Amtek Group promoter Arvind Dham, who sought interim bail in a money laundering case.

Observing Mr. Rohatgi’s appearance, the bench stated, “We don’t understand the appearance of senior counsel in vacations. This Court has often commented on that,”

Notably, this is not the first instance where the Supreme Court has emerged as the flag bearer of support for budding advocates. Just last month the bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma had stated, “Senior lawyers should not argue cases during these partial working days,” to senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Neeraj Kishan Kaul, who appeared in a plea filed against an order of the National Company Law Tribunal.

Further, in May 2024, the bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Sanjay Karol also made a similar observation: “We want the younger bar to grow, that is all; vacation was meant (to be an opportunity) only for the younger people,”

Nonetheless, in the present case of Arvind Dham Versus Directorate of Enforcement, the court did question the appearance of Mr. Rohatgi but the Senior Advocate was allowed to make brief submissions.