Chandigarh, Aug. 27 -- The privilege committee of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana (BCPH) has cleared names of two senior advocates of the high court in alleged episode of bench hunting attempts at HC to obtain a favourable order in an alleged case of corruption involving a Gurugram-based realtor and a former special CBI court judge in Haryana. In its proceedings on August 21, after considering replies from them, the committee cleared names of senior advocates Puneet Bali and Rakesh Nehra, who were among 16 lawyers served notices on August 7. The names of their associates - Sauhard Singh, Rupender Singh, Bindu Tanwar, Ankit Yadav, Anmol Chandan, Gagandeep Singh and Aakash Sharma - have also been cleared. "Upon perusal of the records and replies submitted, the committee is of the considered view that further assistance (from the two senior advocates) is not required. No material has surfaced against them. On the contrary, both have extended full cooperation throughout, reflecting their commitment to transparency, integrity and the highest standards of professional ethics," the committee recorded in its order of August 21, adding that the reputation and integrity of both the advocates and their associates remain "untarnished", and no further information is required from their offices. The committee, chaired by Raj Kumar Chauhan, was constituted on August 4 by BCPH chairman Rakesh Gupta after members of the Bar council pointed out that some advocates of the Punjab and Haryana high court were resorting to bench hunting to secure "favourable orders" from a particular bench or avoiding to appear before another. Bench hunting or forum shopping refers to petitioners managing to get their cases heard by a particular judge or bench to ensure a favourable order. The council is the statutory body with 1.5 lakh members across two states and Chandigarh and adjudicates complaints against lawyers. The committee also issued notices to two Delhi lawyers seeking their personal appearance along with written responses. They were issued notice after it came to light that several advocates appearing for the developer were engaged by Gulshan (Sachdeva) and Siddharth Bhardwaj, both practising in Delhi and appearing in matters concerning the developer before the Punjab and Haryana high court. "It is significant that the information relating to restriction of listing of certain advocates' cases before particular Benches is not in the public domain. Many of the advocates whose names appeared in such orders were themselves unaware of this fact. However, Gulshan and Bhardwaj were found to be surprisingly well aware of such restrictions," the committee recorded while seeking their responses. It also issued notice to one more lawyer, Kunal Dawar, seeking his response as he was also found associated in a case filed by the developer....