New Delhi
There is no doubt that the Chief Justice of India is the “master of roster”, the Supreme Court said on Friday, reiterating that it’s his prerogative and authority to allocate cases to fellow judges and Benches. In separate but concurring judgments, Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan reiterated the legal position on the issue. The top court dismissed former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan’s petition seeking guidelines to regulate the CJI’s administrative powers.

The roster issue has been in the news since January 12 when four senior-most judges Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph addressed the media to highlight their grievances over the manner of allocation of cases by CJI Misra. Several senior advocates who argued against the CJI’s power to allocate cases wanted the Collegium to be involved in the process.

“As far as the role of Chief Justice is concerned, there is no dispute that he is the master of roster and has authority to allocate cases to different SC Benches,” Justice Sikri wrote.

Bhushan had contended 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. He had questioned the “absolute discretion” given to the CJI in deciding the roster.

Rejecting his contention, the Bench made it clear that the CJI did not have to consult the SC Collegium while allocating work. The top court described the CJI as “first among equals”.