The Supreme Court has pulled up the “advocates-on-record” for being mere “name-lenders” in petitions filed before it and sought assistance of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the “advocates-on-record” to end the menace.

Taking note of an increasing trend among advocates-on-record, a worried Bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and G S Singhvi regretted: “Unfortunately, many special leave petitions (appeals) are being filed with advocates-on-record being mere name-lenders, without having, or taking, any responsibility for the case.” As a result, the Bench said, “In such cases the advocates-on-record do not appear when the matters are listed either before the registrars or before the Chamber Judge or the Court nor do they take any interest or responsibility for processing or conducting the case.” In an order, passed few days ago, the Bench lamented that with such a trend catching on, “the very purpose of having the system of advocates-on-record would get defeated.”

The issue caught the attention from the SC as one of the advocate-on-record D B Vohra asked the Bench to restore his petition after it was initially dismissed as the counsel failed to appear.