Keywords – Supreme Court, Roster system, Domain expertise, Judges, July 3.
As per sources, the new scientific shift in roster allocation is aimed at bringing in transparency and certainty.
Supreme Court, reopening, summer vacation, new roster system, case categories, domain expertise, judges, inflow, pendency, civil cases, criminal cases, service cases, public interest litigation (PILs), Chief Justice of India, puisne judges, retirements, specialised benches, taxation, land acquisition, compensation, arbitration, insolvency, corporate law, transparency, certainty, listing process, mentioning of fresh cases, miscellaneous matters, verification, proformas, urgency, Registrar (Judicial Administration), mentioning lists.
The Supreme Court of India will implement a new roster system starting July 3 when it reopens after the summer vacation. The system will allocate cases to judges based on their expertise and the category of the case at the filing stage. This scientific approach aims to handle the high inflow and pending cases effectively.
To address the large number of ordinary civil, criminal, and service cases, more judges will be assigned to these categories. Public interest litigation (PILs) will generally be heard by benches led by the Chief Justice of India and the two senior-most judges to prioritize the resolution of older cases.
The need for this revamped system arose due to recent retirements and upcoming retirements of judges, requiring a redistribution of case categories. The new system will establish specialized benches to handle specific areas such as taxation, land acquisition, compensation, arbitration, insolvency, and corporate law. Given the volume of criminal cases, multiple judges will handle them on the bench.
The objective of this scientific shift in the roster allocation is to ensure transparency and predictability in the court proceedings. Additionally, changes will be made to the listing and mentioning process for fresh cases before the Chief Justice of India.
Under the new process, fresh miscellaneous matters verified by Tuesday will automatically be listed on the following Monday. Matters verified after Tuesday will be listed on the Friday of the next week. Counsel seeking listing prior to these dates must submit their mentioning proformas by 3 PM to have their cases heard the next day. For urgent listing on the same day, the proformas and an urgency letter must be submitted by 10:30 AM to the mentioning officer.
The Chief Justice of India will make a decision on urgent matters during lunch hours or as circumstances require. For urgent listing of after-notice and regular hearing matters, counsel must first approach the mentioning officer with the proforma and an urgency letter. The Registrar (Judicial Administration) of the Supreme Court will then notify the mentioning lists, and only those cases listed in advance will be permitted for mentioning.
These changes aim to streamline the listing and mentioning process, ensuring efficient case management in the Supreme Court of India.
Written by- Anjali Sudha, College name – Haridev law college, Kashipur, Semester- 6th sem an intern under Legal Vidhiya
