Master Of Roster Business Should Be Dealt By First 3 Judges: Former SC Judge Justice Kurian Joseph

At the seminar hosted today by Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) at ISIL, Delhi, retired Supreme Court Justice Kurian Joseph suggested that the Master of Roster business shall be dealt with by at least the first three Judges of the Apex Court, if not five. Further, there shall be diversity - atleast on regional and gender basis - when Benches, especially for matters of Constitutional importance, are constituted.

"There is a perception in the mind of the public that the Master of Roster business is not handled the way it should be", said the former Supreme Court Judge, while addressing a gathering of former judges of Supreme Court and High Courts, senior advocates and members of society assembled for a seminar on "Supreme Court Judicial Administration & Management- Issues & Concerns" at the Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi.

"Now, the trend in the Supreme Court is that if a case is posted before a bench, people are able to predict what the result is," he regretted.  

The seminar, organized by CJAR, was moderated by Alok Prasanna, co-founder of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.  

At the outset of his address, Justice Joseph highlighted that under Article 229 of the Constitution, Chief Justices of High Courts are supreme. Yet, High Courts function through Committees. For the Supreme Court, though there are some Committees, there is no effective system in place like in High Courts.

Seemingly a jab at CJI DY Chandrachud's comment during a Georgetown University event, where he said that he stood by his minority judgement in favor of civil unions of queer couples as sometimes it is a “vote of the conscience”, Justice Joseph underlined that a Supreme Court judge's obligation is to uphold the Constitution and laws. He said, "[a Judge's] conscience is the Constitutional conscience...it is not formed by his ideology or patrons who have helped him reach that position...He is conscience keeper of the Constitution. What he does is done only to uphold the Constitution".

Referring to the unprecedented 2018 conference where 4 Supreme Court judges (Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurien Joseph) came out in public to complain against the Master of Roster business, Justice Joseph recalled that the 4 judges had meetings for 2 weeks with incoming CJs and came up with a suggestion that the Master of Roster exercise should be aptly regulated to avoid perceived arbitrariness.

He also made a mention of the decision given by the top Court on Senior Advocate Shanti Bhushan's petition, which sought regulation of powers of the CJI in constituting benches and allocating cases. In this case, the Supreme Court had asserted that CJI was the 'Master of the Roster' and refused to direct that the listing of cases should be done by a collegium of first five senior judges.

Justice Joseph was quick to add that he does not believe any CJI is arbitrary, but there may be perception. "There is even perception of a remote control in the Supreme Court", he said while recalling the comment he made at the time of his retirement.

Observing that the Supreme Court is always regarded, considered and conceived as guardian of the Constitution, the judge further said that the CJI shall take a call on listing of cases and recusal of judges sensitively, "though it has become sensational".

The event can be watched live here.

Live updates from the event can be tracked here.