New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging the leadership of chief justice Dipak Misra in so far as the procedure for allotment of cases to different benches in the apex court was concerned.
Holding that the CJI was at the realm of the institution and was conferred with authority under the Constitution for allotment of cases, justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, “We do not find merit in the case”.
He added that there should not be a presumption of mistrust in the discharge of duties by the CJI.
The order was passed by a three-judge bench of which Misra was a part himself.
The court was hearing a plea by lawyer Asok Pande seeking a regularised and transparent procedure for allotment of cases that are brought to the top court between the different benches.
The petition further sought that a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court should consist of the five seniormost judges—the CJI, Dipak Misra, and justices J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph or a combination of the three seniormost and two juniormost judges. That would be the CJI, justices Chelameswar, Gogoi followed by justices Navin Sinha and Deepak Gupta.
At present, the constitution of the judges that make up a Constitution bench (comprising 5 judges) is determined by the CJI.
Another plea, challenging the arbitrary and discretionary administrative powers of the CJI has also been brought by former law minister Shanti Bhushan and lawyer/social activist Prashant Bhushan.
After the unprecedented meeting convened by the top four senior judges alleging that the chief justice was not following established precedents in allocation of cases among the judges, a new system for allocation of cases was put in place by Misra.
Under the new roster system, effective 5 February, cases would be allocated based on the subject matter they entail.
The CJI would, however, still be vested with the big chunk of important matters including all special leave petitions (SLPs), and matters related to public interest, social justice, elections, arbitration, and criminal matters, among others.