CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA - POLITY
News: D.Y. Chandrachud is sworn in as the 50th Chief Justice of India
What's in the news?
● Justice
Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud was sworn in as the 50th Chief Justice of India
(CJI) by President Droupadi Murmu at a brief ceremony held at the Rashtrapati
Bhavan on November 9.
● His service will be effective from November 9, 2022, to November 10, 2024.
Appointment:
● The
President appoints the Chief Justice of India (CJI) under Article 124(2) of the Constitution.
● In
terms of the CJI, the retiring CJI proposes his successor. The suggestion is
forwarded by the Union Law Minister to the Prime Minister, who then advises the
President.
● In
the Second Judges Case (1993), the
Supreme Court declared that the CJI should be selected only by the Supreme
Court's senior-most judge.
● In
the Third Judges case (1998), the
Supreme Court declared that the Chief Justice of India's consultation procedure
necessitates "consultation with a plurality of judges."
● The
CJI's single opinion does not define the consultation process. He or she should
consult a collegium of four senior
Supreme Court justices, and even if two of them disagree, he or she should not
pass the idea on to the government.
● As a result of the "third judges case," the Collegium system was formed, and it has been in use since 1998 in the High Courts and Supreme Courts to nominate and transfer judges.
Qualification:
A
person to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court should have the
following qualifications:
1.
He/She should be a citizen of India.
2.
(a) He/She should have been a judge of a High Court (or high courts in
succession) for five years; or
(b)
He/She should have been an advocate of a High Court (or High Courts in
succession) for ten years; or
(c) He/She should be a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the president.
The Constitution has not prescribed a minimum age for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court.
Functions:
● The
Chief Justice is in charge of allocating cases and appointing constitutional
benches that deal with key legal issues as leader of the Supreme Court.
● CJI
delegates all duties to the other justices in line with Article 145 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court Rules of
Procedure of 1966.
● The
CJI is responsible for the following administrative tasks.
○ Maintenance
of the roster
○ Appointment
of court officials
○ Other general and incidental topics concerning the Supreme Court's supervision and operation.
Master of the Roster:
● The
term 'Master of the Roster' refers to the Chief Justice's ability to form
Benches to hear cases.
● The
Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, and a Constitution Bench stated in
November 2017 that "the Chief
Justice is the master of the roster and he alone has the right to construct
the Benches of the Court and allot matters to the Benches thus
established."