A group of 54 women lawyers on Tuesday complained to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) that several female lawyers were kept away from the September 26 event organised by the “Lady Advocates of the Supreme Court” to felicitate nine new judges recent elevated to the Supreme Court.

Addressed to SCBA president Vikas Singh, the letter stated: “While we were all eagerly looking forward to meet the Hon'ble CJI and the new judges and especially the historic strength of lady judges and express our appreciation and welcome them all, most of us had no knowledge of such an event taking place.

“This function has been videographed and circulated in several WhatsApp groups and YouTube and therefore available on social media and we also came to know about it from the same. It has also received wide publicity in print media…. This function was declared to be hosted by ‘Lady Advocates of Supreme Court of India’ and was graced by the Hon'ble Judges.”

The letter added: “We are constrained to write to you in response to an observation by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India where he says he was disappointed to see such a thin crowd and that he expected 200–300 lady advocates to be present…. Clearly, the Hon'ble CJI is well aware of the strength of the lady advocate members practising before the Supreme Court of India, and accordingly, he was rightly disappointed without being aware that most of the lady lawyers regularly practising in the Supreme Court had no knowledge of the event and were not even informed or invited by the organizers.”

The letter urged Singh to clarify whether the felicitation had the patronage of the SCBA or the SCAORA (Supreme Court Advocates on Records Association) and whether information regarding this felicitation was circulated amongst its members or if it was a purely private event.

“If it was a private event, it appears that an impression was conveyed to the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India and his brother and sister Judges by the host(s) of this function that this is an official function representative of ladies practising before this Hon'ble Court. The same is evident from the speech of the Hon'ble CJI and the hosts.

“Please do indicate to us as to whether there are any guidelines with respect to such private functions masquerading as official functions… and whether such activities based on false representation to the Hon'ble Judges must be deprecated and what the SCBA plans to do about it. Will the SCBA watch silently while its EC members use their official position to carry out private activities to the exclusion of the bar members?” the letter asked.

The signatories to the letter included advocates Indra Sawhney, Sushma Suri and Anil Katiyar.