New Delhi: Supreme Court judge U.U. Lalit on Monday recused himself from hearing pleas seeking action against Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy for levelling allegations of corruption and political bias against the judiciary.“I have difficulties. As a lawyer I had represented one of the parties. I will pass an order for it to be listed before a bench without me,” Justice Lalit said, according to news agency PTI. According to LiveLaw, the judge said that he would direct the registry to seek “appropriate instructions” from the Chief Justice of India and list it before the appropriate court at the earliest.A bench comprising Justices Lalit, Vineet Saran and S. Ravindra Bhat was to hear three petitions seeking action against Reddy.According to the Supreme Court Observer, Justice Lalit has recused himself from several high-profile cases. These include a plea by Yakub Menon seeking review of the Supreme Court’s order upholding his capital punishment in 2014, a petition seeking a fair trial in the 2008 Malegaon blasts in 2015 and another one in 2016 seeking a probe into the disappearance of a key prosecution witness in the trial of Asaram Bapu. In 2019, he recused himself from the constitution bench that was to hear pleas into the Ayodhya title dispute.The pleas were made regarding a letter Reddy to Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde on October 6, in which he levelled some allegations against the judiciary and judge N.V. Ramana, who is next in line to be the CJI. At a press conference, Jagan’s advisor also made ‘false statements’, the petitions claim.In his letter to the CJI, Jagan claimed that the Andhra Pradesh high court was being used to “destabilise and topple” his democratically elected government.The three separate petitions were filed by advocates G.S. Mani, Sunil Kumar Singh and Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust.According to LiveLaw, the petition filed by Mani underlines the importance of the independence and integrity of the judiciary and sought Jagan’s records to declare that he has no authority to hold his office as he is misusing it.“It is not permissible that the 3rd Respondent, Sh. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is Chief Minister of State of Andhra Pradesh holding the constitutional post by misusing his official post, power and office of Chief Minister of State of Andhra Pradesh making false, vague, scandalized remarks and political allegation against the Senior Most Sitting judge of this Hon’ble Court openly in the public and media after sending a communication to the Chief Justice of India,” the petition says.Sunil Kumar Singh’s petitions says the AP chief minister should be issued a show-cause notice to explain why suitable action should not be taken against him.Jagan’s actions attempted to tarnish the majesty of the highest court of the country, the plea states, according to LiveLaw. During the press conference, unsubstantiated allegations were made against a judge and Reddy has “crossed the limit” which has been prescribed by the constitution, it says.Also Read: Is the CJI Considering an In-House Inquiry on Andhra CM’s ‘Contemptuous’ Allegations?Attorney general K.K. Venugopal had declined his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Jagan, observing that since CJI Bobde is seized of the matter, it would be inappropriate for him to grant consent and ‘preclude’ the chief justice’s determination on the matter.However, although Venugopal declined his consent he agreed with Upadhyay that the chief minister made objectionable statements in the letter he wrote to CJI Bobde on October 6.
