NEW DELHI: With just a week for the Supreme Court to resume full work after its summer vacation, the new roster for allocation of cases amongst the judges was announced on Sunday. The roster, which will come into effect from July 2, had to be reworked after the retirement of Justice Jasti Chelameswar.
As per the new roster, the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra will continue to hear all matters relating to public interest litigations (PIL), social justice issues, elections, habeas corpus and contempt of court.
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who now becomes the second most senior judge of the Supreme Court, will deal with cases relating to labour laws, indirect taxation and personal laws among other matters.
Justice Chelameswar was adjudicating cases on labour, taxation, land disputes, eviction cases and consumer protection cases, general cases involving financial transactions, and water laws.
Justice Madan Lokur has been allocated matters relating to service, social justice, personal laws, land acquisition, mines and minerals, consumer protection and armed and para-military forces. He will also hear matters dealing with ecological imbalance, protection and conservation of forests, protection of wildlife, felling of trees and groundwater levels.
Justice Kurian Joseph has been assigned cases of labour laws, rent Act, family laws, contempt of court and personal law. He will also hear matters on religious and charitable endowments, besides all land laws and agriculture tenancies.
The latest member of the Supreme Court Collegium, Justice A K Sikri will look into cases of direct and indirect taxes, election and criminal matters, personal law, contempt of court, ordinary civil cases and appointment of law officers.
The Roster of Supreme Court judges came into public domain from February this year in the wake of the press conference held by the then four most senior Judges raising their concern over the allocation of cases by Chief Justice Dipak Misra in the apex court.
The four most senior judges had, in the letter which they released to media on January 12, had noted that the CJI was indeed the master of the roster, but that this was not a recognition of any superior authority, legal or factual of the chief justice over his colleagues.