Plea In Calcutta High Court Seeks Recusal Of Jugdes From Hearing Contempt Matter Over Allegedly 'Prejudicial Remarks'

A plea has been moved before the Calcutta High Court seeking the recusal of a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi from hearing an ongoing contempt matter due to allegedly prejudicial remarks made by the bench in the course of hearings.

According to the petitioner, the bench while hearing the matter made some remarks to the petitioner's advocate which 'eroded' the petitioner's faith in the adjudicatory process.

It is stated that when the plea had come up for hearing earlier, the bench was allegedly of the opinion that the matter was a foregone conclusion and that the petitioner's advocate was appearing in the matter at the expense of the client even though no relief was possible.

"The aforementioned conduct and remarks by the Court, have severely eroded your Petitioner's confidence in the impartiality and fairness of the proceedings. It is a fundamental principle of justice that it must not only be done but also be seen to be done. The repeated remarks by the Court have created a reasonable apprehension of bias, which threatens the integrity of the judicial process," the plea states.

Upon hearing the matter today, the bench listed the matter for tomorrow and remarked, "There is a past history of this gentleman with other judges also...every judge who issued a rule, he has a problem with that rule..."

The petitioner accordingly states that the aforesaid exchange exemplifies the prejudicial conduct and inappropriate remarks made by Justice Debangsu Basak during the proceedings, since there has been no issues that the petitioner faced with other judges of the High Court.

Case: SATISH VISHANJI FUTNANI VS ARUL MADHUSUDHAN FUTNANI AND ORS.

Case No: CC/57/2012