Saying he is the master of the roster, Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra today said judges cannot assign matters to themselves.

Reports coming in from the Supreme Court suggest CJI Misra asserted "only he is the master and the last word" on setting up of apex court benches to look into the cases, a snub to Justice J Chelameswar, who is the second senior-most judge in the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Justice J Chelameswar had heard the matter despite orders from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) that his bench cannot hear the matter, since matters of roster are decided by the CJI.

However hearing was boycotted by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is reported to have shouted at Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. "You are alleged to be a part of this scam. How can you hear the matter?" Bhushan is reported to have said in court.

Bhushan then walked out of the court after a heated debate with Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The Supreme Court Bar Association has recommended contempt proceedings against Bhushan.

The conflict is over a plea by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms that has sought the setting up of a SIT to probe the role of Orissa High Court judge Ishrat Masroor Quddusi in enabling private medical colleges to admit students to MBBS courses despite the Supreme Court barring the institutes from doing so.

Quddusi, an Orissa High Court judge between 2004 and 2010, has been accused by the CBI of legally guiding the private medical colleges and assuring them of favourable settlement of their cases in the Supreme Court. The judge was arrested in September and is currently lodged in New Delhi's Tihar Jail.

"Extraordinary proceedings in SC today in the case seeking SIT Investigation in medical college bribery case involving the CJI! CJI presided over a hand-picked bench to override yesterday's order referring this case to top 5 judges. This despite having a direct conflict of interest," Bhushan had earlier tweeted.

"There must be an independent but credible & thorough investigation in this case of alleged Corruption at the top of the judiciary. Guilty must be held to account. Any attempt to cover it up will only undermine public confidence in judiciary," Bhushan said.

"The court proceedings were extraordinary in that the CJI was asking all kinds of lawyers who were not parties to say things against the order of Court 2, w/o hearing petitioner. He tried to justify his role in the medical college case & speak against 'impropriety' of Court 2," he said in another tweet.