The Supreme court on Wednesday dismissed the petition that sought framing of guidelines for allocation of cases and constitution of benches, saying that the Chief Justice of India is the "authority."
"The CJI first among equals and has authority to decide allocation of cases and setting up of benches," said the apex court. The bench was led by CJI Dipak Misra himself along with Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud .
Justice Chandrachud, writing the judgment for the bench, referred to constitutional schemes and said "the Chief Justice of India is first among equals and has the authority to decide allocation of cases and setting up of benches".
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Since the CJI is a high constitutional functionary, there cannot be "any distrust about the responsibilities he discharges" to ensure that the Supreme Court to carries out the work required under the Constitution, the order stated.
The court’s decision came on a petition filed last week by Lucknow resident Ashok Pande.
Pande, who filed the plea after a January press conference on the issue by four top Supreme Court judges, also urged that Constitution benches set up by the apex court should comprise the five senior-most judges.
The PIL was filed in the backdrop of the January 12 press conference held by senior-most apex court judges including Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph, an unprecedented event.
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The judges had alleged improper allocation of cases by the CJI.
With PTI Inputs
