The Court passed the judgment in a suo motu matter initiated by it on a request by the registry for clear directions to deal with judicial orders that are passed to connect cases from different rosters.

It was pointed out that most times, such orders do not mention any specific reason to connect the cases or include any direction to the registry to obtain administrative orders from the Chief Justice.

In this regard, the registry referred to the decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of State of Rajasthan v. Prakash Chand, and Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms v. Union of India and Anr. which dealt with the authority of the Chief Justice as the master of roster.

The Court also referred to the May 2024 order of a division bench of the Kerala High Court in Nair Service Society & Anr. v. TK Gopalakrishnan Nair & Ors. in which it had warned its registry officials that disciplinary action could be initiated against them if they do not list cases as per the roster unless otherwise ordered by the Chief Justice.

After this order, the registry issued a circular reiterating the directions. However, several judicial orders were passed subsequently to list matters which were contrary to the roster.

The High Court, therefore, issued the present judgment clarifying the procedure to be followed by all judges of the Court in such cases.

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