Chief Justice of India is Master of Roster, remarks Justice Arun Mishra

Justice Arun Mishra of the Supreme Court today reiterated that the Chief Justice of India is the Master of the Roster, and that his job is to hear the cases allocated to him..The remarks were made when one advocate Yadvendra mentioned a bail matter that was heard by Justice Mishra on January 5. Today, owing to urgency in the matter, Yadvendra pleaded for an early listing of the case. However, Mishra J directed him to mention the matter before Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra..“The Chief Justice is the Master of the Roster. We have to hear cases…[not clear]”, remarked Justice Mishra..Justice Mishra’s observations come at a time when the listing of matters in the Supreme Court has created a rift among its senior most judges. Earlier this month, Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph had held a press conference with a view to airing their dissatisfaction with the way matters were being assigned..Special reference was made by Justice Gogoi to the listing of the matter calling for a probe into the death of Special CBI judge BH Loya..In their letter addressed to CJI Misra, the four judges had stated though it is an accepted norm that the CJI is the master of the roster, convention also calls for important matters to be listed before senior judges of the Court..A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI Dipak Misra had held that the Chief Justice was the master of the roster in November last year, under circumstances mired in controversy. This, after Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) and Kamini Jaiswal had filed petitions seeking a probe into the allegations of judicial corruption in relation to the medical college admissions case..On November 9 last year, Justice J Chelameswar had allowed listing of the petition filed by Jaiswal after Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave had mentioned the matter. Subsequently, the next day, a similar petition filed by CJAR came up for hearing before Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan..At this juncture, CJI Misra would step in to constitute a seven-member Constitution Bench to hear the cases. Minutes later, the composition of the Bench would change to five judges, and a high voltage hearing in the Supreme Court would ensue. This resulted in Prashant Bhushan storming out of court, after which the Bench would pass an order reiterating that the CJI is the Master of the Roster.