“I don’t want another reversal in 24 hours”, Chelameswar J. turns down mentioning of Shanti Bhushan PIL

Justice Jasti Chelameswar of the Supreme Court today declined to entertain the mentioning made by advocate Prashant Bhushan regarding numbering of the petition filed by Senior Advocate Shanti Bhushan seeking regulation of the Master of Roster powers exercised by Chief Justice of India..When Bhushan sought to raise the issue that the petition has not even been numbered, Justice Chelameswar said,.“Sorry I cannot take up the case, otherwise there would be one more reversal of order in the next 24-hours.”.He also said that there is a relentless campaign against him alluding to the fact that he is trying to grab some office..“There is a relentless campaign going on against me in the last two months that I somehow want to grab some office. Let the country decide its own course”, he said..Bhushan subsequently mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice of India, who said that he would “look into it”..Last week, the elder Bhushan had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to put a check on the powers of the Chief Justice of India as Master of Roster, stating that the same “cannot be unguided and unbridled discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India”..It also claims that the manner in which politically sensitive matters are being listed before select judges is a violation of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and Handbook of Practice and Procedure, 2017..The petition also enlists a number of politically sensitive cases in which there was “gross abuse of power” as regards listing. Therefore, it was prayed that the Supreme Court issue a writ declaring that listing of matters must strictly adhere to the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and Handbook on Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure, subject to the following clarification:.“The words ‘Chief Justice of India’ must be deemed to mean a collegium of 5 senior judges of this Hon’ble Court.”.Just yesterday, the Supreme Court once again reiterated the primacy of the Chief Justice with regard to listing of cases. That judgment, delivered by a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, held,.“…From an institutional perspective the Chief Justice is placed at the helm of the Supreme Court. In the allocation of cases and the constitution of benches the Chief Justice has an exclusive prerogative. As a repository of constitutional trust, the Chief Justice is an institution in himself…”