CJI is master of roster, or else there will be chaos: Attorney General

There would be a chaotic situation if the Chief Justice of India is not the master of the roster, Attorney General of India, K K Venugopal said. The submission was made on a plea filed by senior lawyer and ex-law minister, Shanti Bhushan who challenged the existing roster practice of allocation of cases by the CJI.

The plea was countered by the AG stating that matters related to the roster can be done by the CJI only. If a number of judges are involved in the process, it could lead to chaos, he also said. The court has reserved orders in the matter.

Shanti Bhushan in April had filed the petition seeking clarification on the administrative authority of the CJI as the master of the roster. He also sought for laying down the principles and procedure to be followed in preparing it for allocation of cases. He had also named the CJI, Dipak Misra and registrar of the Supreme Court as respondents.

He said that the master of the roster cannot be unguided and unbridled discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking Benches of select judges or by assigning cases to particular judges.