The Supreme Court has emphasized the significance of judges respecting the roster system, in which chief justices of the apex court and high courts assign cases to be heard by judges. The court stated that judges should not entertain any petition that has not been assigned to them. Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal, in a recent ruling, emphasized that taking up a case without the specific assignment by the chief justice is a gross impropriety and goes against judicial discipline. The court passed this order while quashing an order passed by a bench of the Rajasthan High Court.

The case in question involved a civil writ petition filed by an accused seeking the clubbing of FIRs and interim protection. The bench clarified that the petition filed in the high court pertained to a criminal case, and another bench had been assigned by the chief justice to hear criminal writ petitions. Instead of converting the petition into a criminal writ petition to be heard by the roster judge, the bench passed an order granting relief. The Supreme Court pointed out that this was a clear example of forum hunting by the accused, as they had not obtained relief for the quashing of the FIRs in their initial petition. The accused attempted to indirectly obtain relief by filing a civil writ petition seeking the clubbing of FIRs.

The Supreme Court regarded this as a gross abuse of the process of law and imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the accused. The court expressed astonishment at the fact that a civil writ petition for the clubbing of FIRs had been entertained. The ruling serves as a reminder to judges to adhere to the assigned roster system and only hear cases that have been specifically assigned by the chief justice.