Judicial threat

Sir — This refers to the report, “Top court Justice J Chelameswar refuses plea to nip ‘power grab campaign’ in bud” (April 13). Two days back, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra and two other judges dismissed a PIL filed by a little-known lawyer questioning the power of the Chief Justice of India to assign work to other judges. The bench reiterated the legal position that the CJI is the “Master of the Roster” and the authority of the CJI in allocation of cases could not be questioned on the grounds of alleged “arbitrariness”.

This laid to rest the controversy raised by the four apex court judges, including Justice Chelameswar in their unprecedented Press conference in January. Still, former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan tried to file a PIL in Justice Chelameswar’s court questioning the CJI’s power to allocate matters and asked the Supreme Court Registry not to list the case before the CJI.

After refusal of Justice Chelameswar, Bhushan appeared before the Bench headed by the CJI and mentioned the petition for urgent listing. Questioning the internal working of the top court and the administrative powers of the CJI weakens our judiciary and is unwarranted.