The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking the formulation of guidelines for the recusal of judges, reiterating that the decision to step aside from hearing a case rests solely with the concerned judge. The judgment was delivered by a Bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan in the case Chandraprabha & Ors v. Union of India & Anr.
The Court made it clear that its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution could not be invoked to frame such guidelines. “Jurisdiction under Article 142 cannot be invoked to frame guidelines for recusal of judges,” the Bench stated.
Background of the Case
The petitioners had earlier approached the Supreme Court in 2023, seeking a probe into the recusal of Justice M. Nagaprasanna of the Karnataka High Court from a batch of three petitions. That plea was withdrawn after the Court warned that such demands could send “wrong signals.” However, the petitioners were granted liberty to file a limited plea focusing only on the need for guidelines regarding recusals.
In the current proceedings, Advocate Nisha Tiwari, appearing for the petitioners, argued that the absence of formal guidelines enabled arbitrary recusals and undermined judicial transparency. She referred to practices in foreign jurisdictions where judges disclose potential conflicts of interest in advance.
Observations of the Court
The Bench, however, rejected the argument for imposing any mandatory norms, emphasising the inherent subjectivity of recusal decisions. “As far as recusal of judges is concerned, it is a matter of discretion of the concerned judges. It is for them to decide whether reasons for recusal are to be disclosed,” the Court observed.
Direction to Move High Court Chief Justice
The petitioners also raised a concern that their matter before the Karnataka High Court had not been listed for hearing for over nine months following the recusal. In response, the Supreme Court granted them liberty to approach the Chief Justice of the High Court to seek listing of the matter.
“We permit the petitioners to move the Chief Justice of the Hon’ble High Court to get her matter listed. We are sure that if such an application is made, the Chief Justice will assign a bench,” the Bench stated.
