Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking recusal of Justice D Y Chandrachud from a bench and clarified that litigant cannot be permitted to browbeat the Court by seeking a Bench of its choice.
The litigant had sought the same relief earlier also. Her plea was rejected at that time too. The court expressed its reservations that whether such a second application on the same issue is maintainable. The court observed that because the earlier order was not in her favour, it would not become a ground for recusal.
“Merely because the order might not be in favour of the applicant earlier, cannot be a ground for recusal. A litigant cannot be permitted to browbeat the Court by seeking a Bench of its choice. Therefore, the prayer of the applicant petitioner in person that one of us (Dr. Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J.) should recuse from hearing the present miscellaneous application is not accepted and the said prayer is rejected,” the order stated.
The court order further stated, “Present application also deserves to be dismissed and is accordingly dismissed. It is observed that the Registry shall not accept any further miscellaneous application on the subject matter of order dated 03.09.2020 or the order dated 29.10.2020 passed in IA No. 101770 of 2020 or in the present order.”
