The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday (April 11) threw out a petition by Asok Pande, an Allahabad High Court lawyer, seeking to frame rules regarding the allocation of judges and benches.

The rule or tradition at the top court as of today is that the Chief Justice is the master of the roster and this appeal intended to challenge that. The system also applies to high courts.

The bench had heard the petition for less than five minutes on Monday and today it said in its order that the chief justice is the head of the institution and in the case of allocation of judges and the benches the CJI is the sole authority.

“He is the sole authority in whom the entire power to run the institution divests. There cannot be a presumption of distrust. We allow the matter to rest and accordingly, the petition is dismissed” the bench said.

You can read the full judgment here.

—India legal Bureau