New Delhi: One of the four  judges, Justice Jasti Chelameswar, who had questioned the way cases were being assigned in the Supreme Court, today refused to hear a related petition by saying that he would very soon retire and did not want to get engaged in “another reversal” of his order within 24 hours.

Justice Chelameswar’s bench was requested by Prashant Bhushan to take up his father Shanti Bhusan’s petition asking that the cases be allotted by a collegium or groups of judges for transparency. The petition was not being taken by the court’s registry, the lawyer told the second most senior Supreme Court Judge.

Mr Bhushan also said that he sought the petition to be considered by any judge other than Chief Justice Dipak Misra as he was named as a party.

“You know my difficulty, you understand my problem,” replied Justice Chelameswar.

“I am going to retire in a few days. I can’t hear your petition on the allocation of cases. I don’t want another reversal of my order in 24 hours,” said the judge, referring to an earlier case in which his order was overturned by the Chief Justice a day later.

“Someone is carrying out a tirade against me that I am waiting to grab some office. For reasons too obvious in the history of the country, I will not deal with this case. It is the problem of the county. Let the country take its own course.”

After Justice Chelameswar refused, Prashant Bhushan sent the request to the Chief Justice who said that he would look into the matter.

The former law minister, Shanti Bhushan’s petition, challenges the Chief Justice’s status as “Master of the Roster” and refers to the “extremely disturbing trend of listing matters subjectively and selectively” and “serious erosion of the independence of the judiciary in deciding matters objectively and independently.”

Four senior Supreme Court Judges, including Justice Chelameswar, publicly criticized the way sensitive cases were being allocated and implied that the Chief Justice was abusing his position as “master of the roster.”

The case involving Justice BH Loya was the immediate trigger for their unprecedented press conference, who died in 2012 of a cardiac arrest. His death came at a time when he was about to decide on charges against BJP President Amit Shah. At first, the case was allotted to a junior judge.

The immediate trigger for their unprecedented press conference was the case involving Justice BH Loya, who died in 2012 of a cardiac arrest, at a time he was deciding on charges against BJP president Amit Shah. The case was first allotted to a junior judge.

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