NEW DELHI: Even as suits concerning Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi have seen over a dozen judges recuse themselves, a similar case has been pending in Punjab and Haryana HC since 2022. The case related to the dismissal of judicial officer Amrish Kumar Jain has witnessed the recusal of four HC judges, including then Chief Justice Sheel Nagu.Presenting his own case, Jain requested a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana to invoke Supreme Court’s exclusive powers under Article 142 and transfer the case to Delhi high court, alleging that repeated recusals demonstrated Punjab and Haryana HC’s institutional inability to adjudicate his petition challenging the termination of his judicial career.The CJI Surya Kant said, “We will request the acting Chief Justice to constitute a bench and if any advocate or petitioner plays any trick to force them to recuse themselves from the case, then serious consequences will follow.” He added, “I know three or four so-called senior advocates who are creating havoc in the HC. I’ll request the judges on the bench not to recuse themselves irrespective of the situation created by anyone.”In its order, the bench said, “The acting chief justice is requested to constitute a division bench (of two judges) to hear Jain’s petition filed in 2022 and the judges must not recuse from hearing the case in any event. The bench should commence hearing the case from the week commencing July 13 on a day-to-day basis till reserving judgment.”Despite the final order in the case, the bench kept the petition pending and asked the registrar general of the HC to file a compliance report before SC once the division bench reserves its order on Jain’s petition.The first judge to recuse herself from the case was Justice Lisa Gill on Sept 2, 2024. The case was heard in detail by a bench headed by then CJ Sheel Nagu and judgment was reserved on Feb 24, 2025. Four months later, however, the matter was released and placed before another bench for fresh adjudication. It was assigned to a bench led by Justice Ashwani K Mishra, who too recused himself on March 25. This was followed by the recusal of Justice Deepak Sibal on May 14.
