The recent controversy over allocation of cases and constitution of benches in the Supreme Court has brought into focus the process by which cases are assigned to judges.
Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and MB Lokur claimed on Friday that Chief Justice Dipak Misra has "selectively assigned cases" to preferred benches.
But how are cases assigned? According to three retired Chief Justices of India (CJIs) and two former judges of the top court, there is no written procedure in the top court that is followed to allocate cases. None of the CJIs or judges wanted to be identified.
When a case is filed, its details and subject matter are scrutinized by the SC registry, which receives and processes all documents. One CJI said the cases are categorised on the basis of subject matter. There are 47 broad categories such as letter petitions, public interest matters, taxation, service matters and criminal appeals. Each category has multiple sub - categories.
Source: HT
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