NEW DELHI: Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna has come out with a fresh roster for allocation of new cases to 16 benches of the Supreme Court and it has been decided that the first three courts presided over by the CJI and the two senior-most judges will hear letter petitions and PILs.
The roster for the assignment of fresh cases was notified by the apex court registry under the CJI’s order and has come into effect from November 11.
The fresh petitions arising out of letters written by the citizens to the apex court and the new public interest litigations (PIL) will be heard by the benches presided over by the CJI, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant, the two senior-most judges.
Besides the letter petitions and the PILs, subject-wise, the CJI-led bench will be dealing with a maximum number of issues, including those related to social justice, disputes related to election of the President, Vice-President and other cases related to election of MPs and MLAs, habeas corpus matters and arbitration. The benches, presided over by Justice Kant, will hear election-related pleas.
Former CJI U U Lalit was allocating PILs to all the benches. This practice was discontinued by his successor, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who had implemented a more diverse and flexible approach to case assignment. The new roster is seen as an attempt to consolidate judicial efficiency while maintaining transparency in case distribution.
The subject-wise allocation of cases has been done for 16 senior judges who will be presiding over benches.
Justice JB Pardiwala, who was sharing the bench with former CJI Chandrachud, will now be dealing with direct and indirect tax matters besides ordinary civil cases.
Besides the three senior-most judges, the other 13 judges are justices Hrishikesh Roy, AS Oka, Vikram Nath, JK Maheshwari, BV Nagarathna, CT Ravikumar, MM Sundresh, Bela M Trivedi, PS Narasimham, Sudhanshu Dhulia, JB Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta and Pankaj Mithal.
The 16 senior judges, now tasked with overseeing these cases, will preside over a range of subject-specific benches, ensuring that each judge is assigned cases based on their expertise. Justice Pardiwala will now be responsible for direct and indirect tax matters, in addition to handling ordinary civil cases. This marks a notable shift in the way judicial responsibilities are being managed.
Also in top court
SC stays HC order on J’khand postings
An SC bench on Thursday stayed the Jharkhand High Court verdict that directed the CBI to enquire into the alleged irregularities in the appointments and promotions made in the state legislative assembly. The plea said the HC erred in directing the CBI enquiry in the absence of any criminality.
Petition on hate speeches dismissed
A two-judge bench on Thursday dismissed a PIL that sought intervention against inflammatory speeches by public figures, alleging these statements endanger national unity, security and promote divisive ideologies. The bench observed that there is no difference between hate speeches and wrong assertions.