New Delhi, Feb. 12 -- The full bench of the Supreme Court has decided to keep out lawyers from the process of designating senior advocates, marking a departure from the existing practice since 2017, in the latest guidelines that was approved on Tuesday. The new rules titled "Guidelines for Designation of Senior Advocates by the Supreme Court of India, 2026" released by the top court on Wednesday carried out changes in the designation process as declared by a May 13, 2025 decision by a three-judge bench. This judgment proposed sweeping changes to the existing 2023 guidelines, which included doing away with the points-based assessment of lawyers. According to the earlier guidelines, the designation was to be recommended by a Permanent Committee at the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI), two senior most judges of the top court, and two lawyer representatives - Attorney General and an eminent senior lawyer from the Bar to be selected jointly by the remaining four members. While the May 2025 judgment did not direct a change in the committee's composition but strongly advocated for a reconsideration on keeping lawyers out of the process, the Full Court of CJI and all judges of the top court that met on Tuesday decided to limit the committee's composition to CJI and the two senior most judges. This committee will also determine the composition of the Permanent Secretariat meant to assist in this process. Senior advocates are designated under Section 16 of the Advocates Act, 1961. It is an honour conferred by the high court or Supreme Court to lawyers having an eminent standing, ability and knowledge or experience of law at the Bar. In 2017, by a judicial decision in the Indira Jaising case, a committee replaced the Full Court in determining senior advocate designations based on a points-based objective criteria. It included years of experience, contribution to judgments, publications, and expertise in any domain of law....