Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the practice of seeking the removal and transfer of part-heard cases from one court's roster (list of cases allocated to a bench) to another bench.Chief Justice Agarwal said that she was not inclined to intervene on such requests, and observed that the Chief Justice is the master of roster only until a roster is finalised and cases are allocated between different judges or benches.She opined that once such a roster is finalised, the Chief Justice is denuded of powers to pull out a particular case from one bench and hand it over to some other bench."Yes, the Chief Justice is the master of the roster but only till the time the roster is decided. Once the roster is decided then things go out of the hands of the Chief Justice. Then Roster is to be given priority. Otherwise, what will happen is once Chief Justice decides roster, she will pull out a matter from one bench and give it to other bench. That isn't possible," Chief Justice Agarwal underlined. The observation was made after senior advocate Yatin Oza sought the removal of a part-heard matter from the board of a particular single-judge, so that the same could be listed instead before another judge.Appearing before the bench of Chief Justice Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee, Oza submitted that a Chief Justice has the power to transfer cases between benches, provided that reasons are given for the transfer.He pointed out that this has been the practice since the 1960s. Chief Justice Agarwal replied that she will put an end to such a practice of removing part-heard matters from a bench and giving it to some other bench after discussing the issue with the Full Court. "I will discuss with the Full Court and decide this issue. I have my reservation about it. According to me Chief Justice is denuded of power to take away one matter from one roster and give it to other bench, once roster is decided. Otherwise, I being the Chief Justice can take matters from any bench and decide myself. But that is wrong. Thus, I have my reservations on this very issue. I will speak to the Full Court and find out a permanent solution to this issue," she said. Chief Justice Agarwal disagreed with senior advocate Oza's submissions on the matter and opined that it is not the Chief Justice's prerogative to transfer part-heard matters pending before a particular judge."If the matter is before any other bench, you can make a request to that bench. And for placing matter before a particular bench, there has to be a judicial order. The Chief Justice cannot pass order to place a part heard matter before any other bench. If the matter is listed before a bench, you will have to go and make a request to that particular bench only," Chief Justice Agarwal told Oza. She added that if there is a contrary practice prevailing, it appeared to be a wrong practice."But that is a wrong practice. There are rules and we all are bound by the rules. Rules do not permit the Chief Justice to place a matter before some other bench. There is no administrative power as such. There has to be a judicial order (by the bench before whom the matter is listed) and even the Chief Justice is bound by the judicial order. That is the first principle. Show me rules that Chief Justice can keep a part heard matter before some bench. Is there any power? Only that bench can pass such order," Chief Justice Agarwal said.
TAGS: Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal Part-heard cases Roster Master of the roster Bench transfer Judicial power Senior advocate Yatin Oza
