Ex-judges seek swift measures

Chief Justice Dipak Misra (above) was quoted as saying on Sunday that
“everything will be sorted out soon”. 

R. Balaji Jan, TT,  14, 2018, New Delhi: Four former judges have urged Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra to address the "serious" concerns raised by the four other senior-most judges.

The retired judges said they agreed with the four judges that "arbitrary" allocation of cases would have a "very deleterious effect on the administration of justice and the rule of law".

The text of the letter, signed by Justice P.B. Sawant (former Supreme Court judge), Justice A.P. Shah (former chief justice, Delhi High Court), Justice K. Chandru (former Madras High Court judge) and Justice H. Suresh (former Bombay High Court judge):

Dear Chief Justice,

The four senior puisne (subordinate to the Chief Justice) judges of the Supreme Court have brought to light a serious issue regarding the manner of allocation of cases, particularly sensitive cases, to various benches of the Supreme Court.

They have expressed a grave concern that cases are not being allocated in a proper manner and are being allocated arbitrarily to particular designated benches, often headed by junior judges, in an arbitrary manner. This is having a very deleterious effect on the administration of justice and the rule of law.

We agree with the four judges that though the Chief Justice of India is the master of roster and can designate benches for allocation of work, this does not mean that it can be done in an arbitrary manner such that sensitive and important cases are sent to handpicked benches of junior judges by the Chief Justice.

This issue needs to be resolved and clear rules and norms must be laid down for allocation of benches and distribution of cases which are rational, fair and transparent. This must be done immediately to restore public confidence in the judiciary and in the Supreme Court. However, till that is done, it is important that all sensitive and important cases including pending ones be dealt with by a constitution bench of the five senior-most judges of this court.

Only such measures would assure the people that the Supreme Court is functioning in a fair and transparent manner and that the power of the Chief Justice as master of roster is not being misused to achieve a particular result in important and sensitive cases. We therefore urge you to take immediate steps in this regard.