To offset the accusation that cases of national importance were being allocated to “preferred benches”, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra unveiled a new roster system – along the lines of those at High Courts, that shows distribution and allocation of cases to the 12 seniormost judges of the top court.
Transparency in allocation of cases comes weeks after four senior SC justices accused the CJI of tinkering with a well-established system. The change in allocation will take place February 5 onwards, nearly a month after the unprecedented press conference by Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph.
According to the roster, CJI Misra – “Master of the Roster” has assigned all public interest litigation matters and Letter Petitions to his bench. CJI Misra’s bench will also hear Election Matters, Social Justice Matters, Contempt of Court Matters, matters dealing with appointment of Constitutional functionaries and law officers, and matters related to Commissions of Enquiry, among others.
Justice Chelameswar will look into Labour Matters, matters pertaining to Land Acquisition, Consumer Protection, Compensation. Justice Gogoi has been assigned Personal Law matters, cases related to state excise and trading in liquor, among others. Justice Lokur will head the bench that will hear Environmental Law matters, Social Justice matters, cases of Armed Forces etc, whereas Justice Joseph will hear Family Law Matters and Service Law Matters.
In the January 12 press conference, the four judges had released a letter expressing their “anguish about recent judicial orders and erosion in the judicial independence of the Supreme Court”. In their letter, they had highlighted the manner in which cases were being assigned by the CJI. “There have been instances where case having far-reaching consequences for the Nation and the institution had been assigned by Chief Justices of this court selectively to benches “of their preference” without any rational basis for such assignment,” the letter read.
