Transparency in Indian Judiciary: New Roster System

A few months back, one of the unprecedented events had shaken the Indian Judiciary. Four Hon’ble judges of the Supreme Court had declared in a press conference about the non-transparency and biasness in the highest Court of India. They had accused the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra for allotting cases of huge public interest to his preferred bench instead of following the customary practice of allotting such cases to the bench consisting of senior most judges in the Apex Court. It was called for in the backdrop of allocation of the high profile case of death of Justic Loya, connected to the Sohrabuddin fake encounter trial case. The incident not only revealed one of the main issue with respect to allocation of cases but also had the potential to reduce public faith in judiciary.  In order to avoid this uncalled for situation, the roster system has been introduced.

Roster System-What is it?

As per this new system that came into effect on February 5, the allocation of the cases will be made to benches depending on the subject matter of the dispute. The Chief Justice of India who is regarded as the master of the roster does the allocation of the cases. But in order to follow the conventional practice of allocation by previous Chief Justices, this method has been introduced.

Method of Allocation under New System

When a matter has arisen out of a Special Leave Petition, matter relates to public interest, social justice or disputes arise with respect to elections, criminal matters, arbitration etc., it shall be dealt with by the bench led by the Chief Justice of India. The other judges of the Court will deal with other important matters like taxation, maritime law, compensation, consumer protection, personal law, service, company or labour matters.

Perceived Advantages of the System

• The roster system will provide for a transparency in the matters related to allocation of cases to the judges.
• The roster system will allocate the cases to the judges based on the subject matter they entail. This will provide greater objectivity in the allocation of cases to Judges.

Therefore the move is hailed as a measure to bring in era of transparency and objectivity in the Supreme Court.

Criticisms of the System

The new roaster system is also questioned for lack of fairness and transparency in preparing the roaster system because:

• It is said that the new roster system is prepared without consulting collegiums or other senior judges.
• Politically Sensitive issues, PILs, Social Justice, Constitutional authorities and many other important matters are listed against Chief –justice. This is criticized for aiding centralization which violates the principle court of equals.

Supreme Court is the custodian of the constitution. The new roster is a step towards transparency and objectivity. It must now address various concerns raised so has to ensure the objectives of transparency and objectivity are enshrined in true sense.