CJI is the 'Master of Roster', Says Supreme Court, Dismisses Shanti Bhushan's Petition

Hearing a petition filed by senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan in connection with the Supreme Court judge roster system, Supreme Court reiterated the fact that there is no dispute that the CJI is the 'master of the roster' and first among equals. According to reports, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the petition of Bhushan, and the top lawyers opposed it, saying it will result in chaos.

According to a report on Livelaw, Bhushan’s petition highlighted that the concentration of absolute powers in the CJI with regards to the determination of roster was unconstitutional. Therefore, his petition sought a declaration that the roster should be decided not by CJI alone, but by a collegium of senior judges. However, the present bench of judges stated that CJI need not consult the collegium on the allocation of cases. CJI occupies the role of first among equals and has the exclusive duty of allocating cases, a bench comprising justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan in their separate concurring verdicts said.

The bench further highlighted that no system is foolproof and there is always scope for improvement in the functioning of the judiciary. In the PIL, Bhushan had alleged that "master of roster" cannot be an "unguided and unbridled" discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking benches of select judges or by assigning cases to particular judges.

Earlier this year the Supreme Court had dismissed a PIL saying there was no concept of “senior” or “junior” SC judges as all were equally competent to decide any case allotted to them by the Chief Justice of India, who alone had the power to constitute benches and assign cases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 06, 2018 01:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).