A Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, on Friday reiterated that the chief justice of India remained the 'master of the roster' for allocation of cases in the apex court.
The bench dismissed a petition from former Union minister Shanti Bhushan seeking that a collegium of Supreme Court judges take over the role of deciding the roster of cases.
Justice Sikri acknowledged that while the Constitution was silent on the role of the chief justice in preparing the roster, the practice of 'master of roster' was aimed at maintaining discipline and decorum in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court noted that these “rich conventions and practices” (of the chief justice being master of the roster) should not be tinkered with.
The bench noted that the chief justice of India was “first among equals” in the Supreme Court, and he need not consult the collegium of judges on allocation of cases. Justice Sikri said the chief justice of India, being the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was spokesperson and leader of judiciary.
Senior lawyers Dushyant Dave and Prashant Bhushan appeared for the petitioner. The Supreme Court had reserved its judgement on the issue on April 27. Attorney General A.K. Venugopal who assisted the Supreme Court in the issue, had argued that having a collegium of judges manage the roster would lead to chaos.
During the early hearings, Dave had referred to a 1998 case in which the Supreme Court had interpreted the term 'chief justice of India' to encompass the serving chief justice and the four senior-most judges.
This is the third time in recent months the issue of master of roster has come up in the Supreme Court. In November 2017, a Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had declared the chief justice was the master of the roster, in response to a petition seeking a probe into judicial corruption related to admissions in a medical college, which allegedly involved Misra. In April this year, another bench, also headed by Misra, observed the chief justice was master of the roster.
(With PTI inputs)
