Chief Justice of India is Master of Roster, has power to allocate cases: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere in a petition filed by former law minister Shanti Bhushan, saying that the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is Master of Roster and has the power to allocate cases to different benches.

The Supreme Court was hearing the petition that had called for a panel of senior judges to decide on rostering judges and assigning of cases.

The SC stated that CJI occupies the role of first among equals and being the senior-most judge, is empowered to exercise leadership in the administration of court which includes assignment of cases.

Justice Sikri said CJI the is spokesperson and leader of judiciary and erosion of judiciary in minds of people is the greatest threat to the judicial system.

Justice Ashok Bhushan also reiterated the expression and said there are rich conventions and practices of SC which are time-tested and should not be tinkered with.

However, the SC said that there is always scope for improvement in the functioning of the judiciary since no system is foolproof.

(With inputs from agencies)