Will that mean that he too will stand down and not agree to hear the case because he’s taken a stand on this kind of issue?

Luckily, he has not done so, and has not said anything about recusing himself, with the court set to hear the case next on 15 October. However, if he had recused himself from the case for that reason, it would have been unlikely that we would have been made privy to it. Because it has become all-too-common for judges of the Supreme Court to recuse themselves from cases without specifying any reasons whatsoever.

“Transparency in procedure is one of the major factors constituting the integrity of the office of a Judge in conducting his duties and the functioning of the court. The litigants would always like to know though they may not have a prescribed right to know, as to why a Judge has recused from hearing the case or despite request, has not recused to hear his case. Reasons are required to be indicated broadly.”

This is not to say that judges owe us 100-page orders detailing reasons about why they felt they did not want to hear a case. Justice Joseph used to specify his reasons for recusing himself in cases in a mere line of the judgment – for instance where he had already heard the matter as a high court judge . A single line is more than enough to explain and set any concerns at rest. Justice Joseph also understood that sometimes, a detailed reason could have its own negative consequences. However, that doesn’t mean a reason shouldn’t be provided, as he posits,

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Navlakha Case Shows Why Judges Need to Give Reasons for Recusal

Nobody knows why five judges decided they couldn’t hear the case – and that is the problem.

Vakasha Sachdev

Updated: 04 Oct 2019, 8:19 PM IST

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On 3 October, Justice Ravindra Bhat became the fifth judge to recuse himself from hearing Gautam Navlakha’s plea to quash the FIR against him in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case.

Navlakha had originally filed a petition to quash the FIR against him in the Bombay High Court, where it was rejected on 13 September, on the basis of information submitted belatedly in a sealed cover by additional public prosecutor Aruna Pai.

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Topics: Supreme Court Judge recuses Bhima Koregaon

Published: 04 Oct 2019, 3:59 PM IST