New Delhi: A seminar on the recent trends in Supreme Court’s judicial administration, management, and cases concerning civil liberties and political rights, is scheduled to be conducted on February 24, by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms, in collaboration with The Wire and LiveLaw.The seminar will be held at the Indian Society of International Law, Bhagwandas Road, New Delhi.Over the last few years, even as we have witnessed fundamental rights, democratic institutions and indeed democracy itself come under increasing attack, the judiciary’s response has been found to be wanting in living up to its key role of protecting against executive excesses. In fact, in some cases, courts appeared to have ruled in favour of diluting civil liberties.While a few recent judgments have bucked the trend and restored some hope in the willingness of the judiciary to be a bulwark against repression and a custodian of constitutional guarantees, much remains to be done.Among the issues expected to be covered in the seminar are selective listing or non-listing of cases, the shift from an open-court system to a closed-door email-based system, and non-compliance with rules and procedures.The issue and problems of allocation of cases to benches by the Chief Justice of India, who is regarded as the ‘master of roster’, was underlined at a press conference of the four senior most judges of the Supreme Court in January 2018.Six years on and several Chief Justices later, the perceived concerns remain and there has been little movement on the part of the court as an institution to address these issues.Instances of cases not being listed despite judicial orders have been noted, raising questions about the registry’s conduct and its authority.Other issues expected to be discussed include the alleged allocation of politically sensitive cases to specific benches, sometimes in violation of established rules and procedures.The issue of civil liberties and political rights has become critical amidst a surge in arrests of activists, journalists, and politicians by central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the National Investigation Authority on questionable grounds.Draconian provisions in laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act grant these agencies increased powers, enabling prolonged detention, use of confessions in trials, and limited access to bail for the accused. This necessitates a vigilant judiciary to prevent the abuse of power by central agencies targeting opposition parties or government critics.To discuss these issues, three sessions will be conducted on February 24.The first session, titled ‘Supreme Court Judicial Administration & Management – Issues and Concerns’, will be held from 10 am to 1 pm. It will be moderated by Alok Prasanna, co-founder Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.The speakers include Justices Madan Lokur and Kurien Joseph, former judges of the Supreme Court; Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, former Chief Justice, Delhi high court; Justice Rekha Sharma, former judge, Delhi high court; Justice Govind Mathur, former Chief Justice, Allahabad high court; Kamini Jaiswal, advocate, Supreme Court; senior advocate Meenakshi Arora; advocate Gautam Bhatia; and Prashant Bhushan, Advocate and convenor, Campaign for Judicial Accountability & Reforms (CJAR).The second session, titled ‘The Supreme Court’s recent trend on cases involving Civil Liberties and Political Rights ‘ will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm. It’ll be moderated by Anjali Bharadwaj, Right to Information activist, Satark Nagrik Sanghatan and CJAR.The speakers include: Justices A.K. Patnaik and Indira Banerjee, former judges of the Supreme Court; professor Mohan Gopal, former director, National Judicial Academy; senior advocates Trideep Pais, Kapil Sibal, Mihir Desai; and Warisha Farasat, advocate, Delhi high court and Supreme Court.The third and final session will focus on the resolutions and the way forward. It’ll be moderated by Indira Unninayar, advocate, Supreme Court and Amrita Johri, RTI activist.This story, originally published on February 15, has been republished on February 23, as the seminar is scheduled to be held on Saturday, February 24.