The Supreme Court’s recent chastisement of an Allahabad High Court judge for an “absurd” order raises two questions, whether the top court can act as an “elder brother” to High Courts and if “institutional concerns affecting rule of law” would give the top court authority to intervene in the exclusive ‘master of roster’ powers of the Chief Justice of a State High Court.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan found an order by High Court judge, Justice Prashant Kumar, so “erroneous” that it directed the High Court’s Chief Justice Arun Bhansali to pair him with a “seasoned senior judge” in a Division Bench. The Supreme Court further directed that Justice Kumar should not be assigned a criminal roster till he demitted office.
The two directions, part of an August 4 order, were objected to by the Allahabad High Court lawyers, who wrote to the Chief Justice. Justice Pardiwala’s Bench modified the August 4 order on Friday after receiving a letter from Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai to reconsider the two directions.
No power of superintendence
The six-page order by the Supreme Court Bench said it had never meant, by passing the now deleted directions, to challenge the power of Chief Justice Bhansali as ‘master of roster’ of his High Court.
