Third recusal in former Kerala Transport Minister Thomas Chandy’s appeal in Supreme Court

Justice Kurian Joseph today recused from hearing the appeal filed by former Transport Minister of Kerala, Thomas Chandy, in a case relating to illegal encroachments..The matter was listed today as item 61 before Justices Kurian Joseph and Amitava Roy when Justice Joseph chose to recuse from the case..Justice Joseph is the third judge to recuse from the case. Earlier, Justices AM Khanwilkar and AM Sapre had also recused from the matter..Chandy’s appeal is against a November 14 decision of the Kerala High Court by which it had dismissed Chandy’s petition in an encroachment case. The High Court while dismissing the case had observed that as a Cabinet minister, he should not have moved against the decision of the very Cabinet of which he was a member..The decision of High Court had led to Chandy’s resignation from the Ministerial post..The case had created quite a furore in Supreme Court after Chandy’s lawyer wrote to the Registrar General of Supreme Court, praying that the matter be shifted to a Bench not comprising Justice AM Sapre..The reason as stated in the letter was that Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, who had appeared for Chandy in the Kerala High Court, cannot appear before Justice Sapre due to personal reasons, and if the matter is listed before a Bench which comprises Sapre J.,.“the petitioner will lose the service of an able lawyer who is well-versed in the facts and laws involved in the case”..Subsequently, the matter was first listed before the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra when Justice Khanwilkar, who was also on the Bench recused..The matter then went to Justice RK Agarwal and AM Sapre when Sapre J. recused from the matter.