New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan R Gavai on Tuesday underscored that the country's top judge is not vested with powers superior to the other 33 judges of the Supreme Court, adding that the judges leading the first court of the country are bound by the principles of judicial propriety and discipline. "The CJI exercises the same judicial power like the other 33 judges. The CJI is just the first among equals," Justice Gavai said while heading a three-judge bench that also included justices K Vinod Chandran and NV Anjaria. The bench was hearing the Centre's plea to recall an April 26, 2023 judgment in Ritu Chhabaria Vs Union of India, which held that an accused is entitled to default bail if the investigating agency files an incomplete charge sheet. The ruling, delivered by a bench of justices Krishna Murari and CT Ravikumar, triggered a spate of bail applications across the country in high-profile cases. The Centre's recall plea pointed to a May 1, 2023 order of a two-judge bench led by then CJI Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, which effectively put the April 26 ruling on hold after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta warned of "large-scale ramifications". On Tuesday, Justice Gavai's bench questioned whether a bench, "just because it sits in the first court", could alter an order passed by another bench of equal strength. "We believe in adherence to judicial propriety and discipline. If we permit this, one bench can go on interfering with orders of another bench just because the former does not like it," he said. Mehta, on his part, urged the bench to consider the "all India ramifications" of the Ritu Chhabaria ruling, citing around 50 pending applications where accused have claimed that mentioning Section 173(8) of the CrPC in a charge sheet implies that further probe is pending and, therefore, the charge sheet is incomplete, entitling them to default bail....