{"id":245439,"date":"2023-05-30T20:04:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T14:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=245439"},"modified":"2023-05-30T20:04:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T14:34:19","slug":"from-master-of-the-roster-to-master-of-all-judges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/from-master-of-the-roster-to-master-of-all-judges\/","title":{"rendered":"From Master of the Roster to Master of all Judges?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source-<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cFrom Master of the Roster to Master of all Judges?\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 30th May 2023.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Functioning of judiciary<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>– Issues related to constitutional position of judges of SC.<\/p>\n

News- <\/strong>Recently, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court, in Ritu Chhabria v. Union of India gave its decision on bail related matters.<\/em><\/p>\n

What was the decision of the Division Bench of the Supreme Court, in Ritu Chhabria v. Union of India case?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It affirmed an undertrial\u2019s right to be released on default bail <\/strong>in the case of incomplete investigation <\/strong>and proceeding beyond the statutory time limit. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It criticised the practice of investigative agencies charge-sheeting<\/strong> an accused despite the unfinished investigation<\/strong>. It held that the right to be released on bail<\/strong> will not end despite the filing of a preliminary charge-sheet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It concluded that an accused\u2019s right to seek default bai<\/strong>l would be terminated only upon completion of the investigation within the statutory time limit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What was the response of the court of CJI to recall application by the Union against Ritu Chhabria judgement?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Court of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) entertained a recall application<\/strong> moved by the Union of India against this judgement.<\/p>\n

It passed an interim order <\/strong>directing courts to decide bail applications without relying on the decision laid down in Ritu Chhabria<\/strong> for a short period of time.<\/p>\n

The Court of the CJI indirectly stayed the decision despite not having any connection with the verdict.<\/p>\n

What are the issues related to the interim order passed by court of CJI in the recall application filed by the Union government?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ordinarily, the only recourse available to the Union of India was the filing of a review petition<\/strong>. It is usually decided by the same Bench. There was no scope of the review petition <\/strong>being entertained by the Court of the CJI.<\/p>\n

A recall application<\/strong> cannot be filed against a judgement before a different Bench. <\/strong>It is equivalent to bench fishing or forum shopping. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Court of the CJI has effectively instituted a mechanism<\/strong> by entertaining an intra-court appeal.<\/strong> The mechanism has not any legislative or constitutional backing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The order has the effect of enlarging the powers<\/strong> of the CJI on the judicial side. <\/strong>It can create an unprecedented intra-court appellate mechanism<\/strong> within the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

What is the position of the CJI in relation to other judges of SC?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Within the constitutional scheme of things<\/strong>, all judges of the Supreme Court are equal in terms of their judicial powers. However, the CJI enjoys special administrative powers<\/strong> such as constituting Benches. He assigned matters and references<\/strong> for reconsideration of a larger Bench. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The CJI is known as the Master of the Rooster.<\/strong> He is regarded as \u2018first amongst equals<\/strong>\u2019 in relation to companion judges.<\/p>\n

In any given Bench including the CJI, the vote or power <\/strong>given to the CJI is the same as that of his companion judges.<\/p>\n

History is replete with examples of the CJI authoring a minority opinion<\/strong> of the Court.<\/p>\n

Most Commonwealth countries such as the U.K., Australia and Canada have this system in place.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has a system where all the judges collectively exercise power and render decisions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the issues related to the master of the roster?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The legitimacy <\/strong>of the power of Master of the Roster<\/strong> has been hotly debated. There are instances of abuse that are a cause for concern. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Just five years ago, four senior judges of the Supreme Court alleged serious irregularities<\/strong> in the administration and assigning of cases<\/strong> for hearing to Benches of the Court.<\/p>\n

The powers vested in the CJI by his virtue of being the Master of the Roster are unending. It is impractical to lay any limits<\/strong> on these powers, meant for the smooth administrative functioning <\/strong>of the Court.<\/p>\n

It is imperative that the CJI himself refrains from expanding his powers as Master of the Roste<\/strong>r. The practice of constituting Benches and allocating cases should be completely computerised <\/strong>and left out of the hands of the CJI.<\/p>\n

The CJI\u2019s powers as the Master of the Roster are meant only for administrative decision-making.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source- The post is based on the article \u201cFrom Master of the Roster to Master of all Judges?\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 30th May 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Functioning of judiciary Relevance– Issues related to constitutional position of judges of SC. News- Recently, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court, in Ritu Chhabria v. Union… Continue reading From Master of the Roster to Master of all Judges?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-245439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":10,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698445111},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}