A new work roster was released by the Supreme Court registry on Wednesday, 26 June, that said that the top five judges will now be given public interest litigation (PIL) cases.
This decision overrules the year-old protocol, where such cases was registered only to the Chief Justice’s Court.
The change is significant since it undoes a move by former chief justice Dipak Misra, whose tenure was marked by a controversy related to assignment of cases.
The PIL matters will now be heard by the benches headed CJI Gogoi and justices SA Bobde, NV Ramana, Arun Mishra and Rohinton Fali Nariman. The four justices will hear PILs assigned to them by the CJI, reported the Hindustan Times.
“Traditionally, in the Supreme Court and high courts, PILs are heard by the courts of the chief justices. This was so because the number of PILs filed were small in numbers. But with time, the number of PILs in the apex court increased and Chief Justices decided how to deal with them. Some gave PIL matters to other judges while some held it in the court of the CJI. There were no clear criteria governing PILs.”KG Balakrishanan, former CJI
The new roster that comes into force on 1 July, has also specified that election matters will now be shared by the benches headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Bobde.
“It’s a practical decision and recognition of the fact that there are too many PILs that are being filed in the apex court and they need to be heard by other judges too as the PILs filed deal with a wide variety of subjects”Jaideep Gupta, Advocate
(With Inputs from Hindustan Times)
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