#RecusalWatch: Matter heard by Chelameswar J 8 times, now listed before another bench

The case of Dheeraj Mor v Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, which came up for hearing on December 15 before a bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit, from which Justice UU Lalit recused, has an interesting background.

Listed before different benches since 2015, this civil SLP deals with the question of eligibility of serving judicial officers to apply for direct recruitment as District Judges.

The case is an appeal against a Delhi High Court judgment that had disqualified members of the judicial service from being appointed under the direct recruitment procedure, and held that only advocates were eligible to be appointed.

On November 22, 2016, it was listed before the then Chief Justice TS Thakur, and Justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, when counsel for the parties submitted that a similar issue was heard and decided by a bench presided over by Justice J Chelameswar in Civil Appeal No.7358 of 2016 in Vijay Kumar Mishra v High Court of Judicature at Patna. In this case, Justices Chelameswar and Abhay Manohar Sapre had given separate concurring judgments, holding that the question of eligibility arises only at the stage of appointment, and not during the selection process.

Accordingly, from December 5, 2016, Dheeraj Mor began to be listed before the bench presided over by Justice Chelameswar. The case had been listed before the bench presided over by Justice Chelameswar eight times earlier. It is interesting to note that the matter had come up before a vacation bench of Justices Nageswara Rao and Navin Sinha on May 25 this year. This vacation bench had issued notice and passed an interim direction allowing the petitioners to appear for the examination.

It was last heard by Justices Chelameswar and S Abdul Nazeer on November 14, 2017, when the bench directed its listing the following week, as prayed for. But for reasons which are not clear, it was not listed the following week and later on December 15, it was listed before a bench of Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit, from which Justice Lalit recused.

Curiously, the causelist for December 15 does not show this item in the drop note before Court No. 2. In fact, that causelist does not have a drop note for Court 2. The matter will now go before another bench on January 4.

On December 11, Justice Lalit also recused from hearing a Miscellaneous Application (MA) filed in Subrata Chattoraj v Union of India, which was disposed of by the Court earlier.

This was a writ petition seeking CBI investigation into a ponzi scam that affected the states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Odisha, involving collection of nearly Rs.10,000 crores from the general public, especially the weaker sections of society, which had fallen prey to the temptations of handsome returns on deposits extended by some companies involved in the scam. The investigation revealed involvement of several political and other influential persons. On May 9, 2014, the bench of Justices Thakur and C Nagappan had directed the investigation of the cases by the CBI.

On December 15, the MA was heard by the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan M Shantanagoudar, which has directed issue of notice and compliance with the 2014 judgment.

Other Recusals

On December 11, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul recused from hearing a civil SLP filed by Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee that has challenged the Election Commission’s power to hold a by-election, when the remainder of the term of a member who might be elected is less than one year.  The matter will now be listed before another bench on January 4.

Justice L Nageswara Rao recused from hearing a civil SLP, Chhatisgarh Dental College & Research Institute v Shweta Kabra & Ors, listed before him and Justice SA Bobde on December 11. This is about admission/transfer to engineering and medical colleges.

Justice Madan B Lokur recused from hearing a civil SLP, Manita Verma v Ashok Shah on December 11.

Justice AM Khanwilkar recused from hearing two cases.  The first was a 2012 criminal appeal, Ritesh Sinha v State of Uttar Pradesh listed before the CJI, himself, and Justice DY Chandrachud.  The second was Thomas Chandy v State of Kerala, which was covered earlier here.

Justice Amitava Roy recused from hearing a civil SLP,  Satya Narain Sharma v State of Rajasthan, on December 11, when it was listed before Justice Kurian Joseph and himself.

Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel recused from hearing a civil SLP, The Gauhati High Court v Basab Bijoy Bhattacharjee, on December 11.

Justice DY Chandrachud recused from hearing a civil SLP arising out of a dismissal of a PIL by the Bombay High Court,  State of Maharashtra v Sudamrao Shankarrao Pawar, listed before the bench of the Chief Justice, Justice AM Khanwilkar and himself on December 11.