Delhi High Court judge Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Monday rejected pleas by former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others seeking her recusal from hearing the excise policy case. The court observed that “a judge cannot recuse to satisfy a litigant’s unfounded suspicion of bias and based on manufactured allegations”.
Justice Sharma said she will decide the main matter – in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has challenged the verdict of a trial court discharging all the accused, including Mr. Kejriwal, in the excise policy case – without being affected by the recusal applications.
Mr. Kejriwal and the other accused had moved an application seeking Justice Sharma’s recusal from the case. They argued that there was a “direct conflict of interest” as the judge’s children are empanelled Central government lawyers who receive substantial work through the Solicitor General, who appeared for the CBI.
Justice Sharma, however, rejected this argument, saying, “Even if relatives [of the judge] are empanelled on government panels, the litigant has to show relevance and impact on this case. No such nexus has been shown. Their empanelment or relationship has no connection with this dispute.”
