The Supreme Court trained the spotlight on Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai on Friday (November 14, 2025), saying the top judge "must have" acted on the anguish of a judicial member on the Chennai Bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) who chose to recuse after recording in an order that “one of the most revered members of the higher judiciary” approached him for a decision favouring one of the parties in a high-stakes case.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the matter was of “vital public importance” and the “law must take its course”.
The NCLAT’s Chennai Bench led by the judicial member in question, Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, passed the order on August 13 in an appeal filed by A.S. Reddy, the suspended director of Hyderabad-based KLSR Infratech, which is facing corporate insolvency resolution proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Justice Sharma is a retired Uttarakhand High Court judge, who was appointed to the NCLAT.
The Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Kant was hearing a petition filed by M/s. AS Met Corp Pvt Ltd, the operational creditor of KLSR Infratech and the first respondent in the NCLAT case.
“The judicial member has preserved the WhatsApp message he received and the number. Apparently, it is the Chief Justice of a High Court… That is our information. The message came from the Chief Justice of a High Court… That is why the judicial member recused,” advocates Prashant Bhushan, representing M/s. AS Met Corp Pvt Ltd, alleged orally in the hearing.
