Chandigarh, Aug. 10 -- The privilege committee of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana (BCPH) has put on notice 16 lawyers, including two senior advocates, of the high court over alleged attempts of "bench hunting" to obtain a favourable order in an alleged case of corruption involving a Gurugram-based realtor and former special CBI court judge in Haryana. The committee also sought responses from Supreme Court advocates, senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, stating their responses are necessary to "fairly and comprehensively adjudicate the matter in hand". 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. "This committee is of the prima facie view that there appears to be foul play on the part of certain advocates who appeared on behalf of Roop Bansal, a real estate builder, and it appears these advocates may have manipulated procedural rules for convenience and gain," the privilege committee observed after going through the record of the case. "It is painful and disturbing for the committee to discuss here how tactfully, systematically and in an organised manner, some of the advocates made efforts to hunt the bench. From the records, prima facie it appears that JK Singla, advocate, orchestrated the game plan. But it is highly unbelievable, that this can be done singularly, rather it has been done in an organised manner and there might be some big ingenious minded advocates behind the curtains, which has to be unearthed," it said. The council is the statutory body with 1.5 lakh members across two states and Chandigarh. It has regulatory control over the Bars, and regulates entry into the legal profession and also adjudicates complaints against lawyers. The advocates, who have been served notice through Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, are JK Singla, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Aditya Aggarwal, Gagandeep Singh, Anmol Chandan, Baljeet Beniwal, Harsh Sharma, Sauhard Singh, Rupender Singh, Ankit Yadav, Ashim Singla, Aakash Sharma, Bindu, APS Shergil and two senior advocates Rakesh Nehra and Puneet Bali. All of them have been told to respond by August 16....