{"id":35646,"date":"2023-05-26T05:05:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T23:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=35646"},"modified":"2025-04-21T09:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T04:13:38","slug":"recusal-of-judges-reasons-and-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/recusal-of-judges-reasons-and-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Recusal of Judges: Reasons and Process"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Recusal of Judges?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Reasons for recusal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The process for recusal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Few notable SC judgements on the issue<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Can a judge refuse to recuse?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Judges record reasons for recusal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Concerns surrounding recusal of judges<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, Supreme Court judge Justice MR Shah refused to recuse from hearing a plea by former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt.<\/li>\n<li>Earlier, Justice CT Ravikumar, had recused himself from hearing a batch of appeals against the discharge of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.\n<ul>\n<li>The reason for his recusal was that he had been involved in a related matter as a judge in the Kerala High Court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>These incidents have brought back the focus on the issue of recusal of judges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Recusal of Judges?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Recusal is removal of oneself as a Judge or policymaker in a particular matter, especially because of a conflict of interest.<\/li>\n<li>The doctrine of judicial recusal requires a Judge, who has been appointed to hear and determine a case, to stand down from that case.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Principle behind it<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The practice stems from the cardinal principle of due process of law \u2014 <i>nemo judex<\/i> in sua causa, that is, <strong><u>no person shall be a judge in his own case<\/u><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Another principle guiding judicial recusals is \u2018<u>justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done<\/u>\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Reasons for recusal<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>When there is a <u>conflict of interest<\/u>, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception of biasness while deciding the case.<\/li>\n<li>The conflict of interest can be in many ways:\n<ul>\n<li>holding shares in a company that is a litigant;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>having a prior or personal association with a party involved in the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Another instance for recusal is <u>when an appeal is filed in the SC against a judgement of a HC that may have been delivered by the SC judge when he\/she was in the HC<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The process for recusal<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>decision to recuse generally comes from the judge himself<\/strong> as it rests on the conscience and discretion of the judge to disclose any potential conflict of interest.<\/li>\n<li>In some circumstances, lawyers or parties in the case bring it up before the judge.<\/li>\n<li>There are <u>no formal rules governing recusals<\/u>, although several Supreme Court judgments have dealt with the issue.\n<ul>\n<li>The basic principle of judicial conduct is in taking the oath of office, Judges, both of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts.\n<ul>\n<li>Judges promise to perform their duties, to deliver justice, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Few notable SC judgements on the issue<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In <strong><u>Ranjit Thakur v Union of India<\/u><\/strong>, the SC held that the tests of the likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the mind of the party.\n<ul>\n<li>Judges should look at the mind of the party before him rather than asking himself about the biasness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><i><strong><u>In Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India<\/u><\/strong><\/i>, Justice Chelameswar held that:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Where a judge has a pecuniary interest, no further inquiry as to whether there was a \u2018real danger\u2019 or \u2018reasonable suspicion\u2019 of bias is required to be undertaken.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Can a judge refuse to recuse?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Once a request is made for recusal, <u>the decision to recuse or not rests with the judge<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>There have also been several cases where judges have refused to withdraw from a case.\n<ul>\n<li>For instance, in 2019, Justice Arun Mishra had refused to recuse himself from a Constitution Bench set up to re-examine a judgement he had delivered previously.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Judges record reasons for recusal<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Since there are no formal rules governing the process, it is often left to individual judges to record reasons for recusal.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Some judges disclose the reasons in open court; in some cases, the reasons are apparent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Concerns surrounding recusal of judges<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Threat to Judicial Independence<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Litigants often try to use this tool as to cherry-pick a bench of their choice. This might affect judicial fairness and hence independence.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Judicial functions, sometimes, require asking questions and soliciting answers to arrive at a just and fair decision.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>If the assertions of bias are to be accepted, it would become impossible for a Judge to seek clarifications and answers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Delay in justice delivery<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Recusal may cause obstruction and delay the proceedings of the Courts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>No fixed rule for recusal<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>There are no rules to determine when the judges could recuse themselves.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, there are different interpretations of the same situation.<\/li>\n<li>E.g., In the Ayodhya-Ramjanmabhoomi case, Justice U U Lalit recused himself from the Constitution Bench.\n<ul>\n<li>This was after the litigants brought to his attention that he had appeared as a lawyer in a criminal case relating to the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>On the other hand, in 2019, Justice Arun Mishra had refused to recuse himself from a Constitution Bench set up to re-examine a judgement he had delivered previously.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0What is nemo judex in sua causa?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Nemo judex in sua causa&#8221; is a Latin phrase that translates to &#8220;no one should be a judge in their own case&#8221; in English. It is a fundamental principle of natural justice and a cornerstone of the legal system in many jurisdictions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)\u00a0What does independence of Judiciary mean?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The independence of the judiciary refers to the principle that the judiciary, as a separate and distinct branch of government, should be free from undue influence or interference from the executive and legislative branches. It is a fundamental concept in democratic societies and a crucial element of the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/explained-why-do-judges-recuse-themselves-and-how-a-look-at-recent-judicial-recusals\/article66858096.ece#:~:text=Whenever%20there%20is%20a%20potential,biased%20while%20deciding%20a%20case.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Explained | Why do judges recuse themselves and how? A look at recent judicial recusals\u00a0<\/u><\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/how-judges-recuse-from-cases-and-why-7371106\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Express<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livelaw.in\/news-updates\/delhi-high-court-investigation-into-judges-recusal-interference-with-justice-196616\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Live Law<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/02\/05\/judges-and-recusal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>SCConline<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recusal is removal of oneself as a Judge in a particular matter because of a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}