Delhi High Court judge Swarana Kanta Sharma on Monday dismissed former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking her recusal from hearing CBI’s plea against his discharge by a lower court in liqour policy case.
The former Delhi CM had sought Justice Sharma’s recusal from the case citing her alleged links with the RSS and her children’s association with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
However, justice Sharma said, “Personal apprehensions have not been able to pass the threshold of the ‘apprehension of bias’. Recusal has to step from law, and not from narrative; and this is a defining moment for the court.”
“If this court was to recuse, it would be an act of surrender and a signal that institution including judge and the court can be bent, shaken and changed. Applications seeking recusal are rejected,” she ruled.
She further added, “Judicial integrity cannot be put to trial by a litigant. A litigant cannot judge a judge without any material. Urging this court to withdraw solely on the basis of perceived bias and if I would accept this, it would settle a disturbing precedent.”
The judge further stated that it is not a dispute bbetween two litigants but “between myself and the litigant.”
“Allegations and insinuations though persistent and loud cannot replace the proof required for recusal. In case recusal is allowed, the judicial process will not remain independent but vulnerable to allegations,” she noted.
Meanwhile, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, has recused from hearing the plea filed by former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Naresh Balyan seeking bail in a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 case.
The case will now be listed before another judge April 23 and no reasons were given by the judge while recusing from the matter.