The CJI is the first among equals and has the exclusive duty of assigning cases, the Supreme Court ruled today (PTI file photo)

The Chief Justice of India is the master of the roster, and the spokesperson and leader of the judiciary, the Supreme Court today said while hearing a petition filed by former law minister Shanti Bhushan.

The CJI is the first among equals and has the exclusive duty of allocating cases to different benches of the Supreme Court, a two-judge bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said in separate but concurring judgments while disposing of Bhushan's petition.

The bench, in an important observation, also said that the master of roster could not be interpreted as the Collegium, which consisted of the five senior-most judges of the top court.

The ruling reiterates that the CJI is the legitimate authority to assign cases to different benches on his own and that the Collegium cannot play a role in deciding which bench of the Supreme Court hears what case.

Bhushan's petition had challenged the existing roster practice of allocation of cases in the apex court by the CJI. In his PIL, Bhushan had alleged that "master of roster" cannot be an "unguided and unbridled" discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking benches of select judges or by assigning cases to particular judges.

The Supreme Court's comments on Bhushan petition are important as they come in the middle of a raging debate over the powers and functioning of the CJI. The debate was sparked by an unprecedented press conference held by four judges of the Supreme Court in January this year.

Justices J Chelameswar (who has now retired), Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph raised questions about the manner in which certain cases were being allocated to certain benches of the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from Sanjay Sharma and PTI)

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