Surya Kant Uses Cockroach Remark in Senior Designation Hearing
Chief Justice Surya Kant compared some unemployed youth to cockroaches during a hearing over senior designation applications from advocates, while also questioning the genuineness of some law degrees. He said he was considering a CBI investigation into whether the LLB degrees of some lawyers were genuine.
The bench also refused to entertain one lawyer’s application for senior designation. Surya Kant said the designation was “a status to be conferred and not to be legally pursued.”
Surya Kant and senior designation
Surya Kant was questioning the genuineness of the law degrees of some advocates who had approached the top court over senior designations. He said he had been following comments being made on social media by the lawyers and that the Bar Council of India was “absolutely in collusion” with them.
He added: “I am waiting for some matter...I want the CBI to verify the LLB degrees of most of the Delhi people...in Tis Hazari so and so...the kind of Facebook and things they are putting....do they think we are not watching? BCI will not do anything...thousands of them are fraudulent people who are wearing black robes...I have serious doubts on the genuineness of their law degrees. Probably CBI will have to do something. BCI will never do, because they are hands in glove, they are absolutely in collusion.”
Delhi lawyers in court
He then made the remark that drew the most attention: “There are already parasites of society who attack the system and you want to join hands with them? There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don't get any employment and don't have any place in profession. Some of them become media, some of them become social media, some of them become RTI activists, some of them become other activists, and they start attacking everyone...and you people file contempt petitions!”
PTI reported that after refusing the application for senior designation, the chief justice asked whether it was a status symbol to be kept ornamentally. The immediate consequence of the hearing was a rejection of that request, while the broader dispute over law degrees and the conduct of some advocates remained tied to the possibility of a CBI check.
CBI and the lawyers
For lawyers seeking senior designation, the hearing left two separate risks in view: refusal of the status itself and a possible inquiry into the degrees used to enter the profession. Surya Kant’s remarks linked the application to the court’s concerns about who was asking for senior status and whether their qualifications would stand up to scrutiny.
The proceeding ended with the court’s refusal to entertain the application and the chief justice’s warning language still on the record, leaving the degree question as the sharpest practical issue for the lawyers involved.
