Supreme Court Stays Andhra Pradesh HC Order Initiating Contempt Proceedings Against Govt Official For Seeking Recusal Of Judge

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed an order passed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against a government official who had filed an affidavit supporting an application seeking recusal of Justice Rakesh Kumar from a division bench.

The State of Andhra Pradesh filed special leave petitions against the order passed by the High Court on December 30, 2020.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde also issued notice on the SLPs filed by the state government.

The contempt proceeding was initiated by a division bench headed by Justice Rakesh Kumar(since retired) while taking strong exception to the application filed by the state government seeking his recusal from hearing petitions challenging auction of government plots.

The state government sought the judge's recusal on the ground that he has taken a biased view against the state government during previous proceedings. The application had cited reports of several scathing oral observations said to have been made by Justice Rakesh Kumar.

However, Justice Kumar denied making any such remarks and said that he was merely expressing doubts about the legality of the move of the government to auction public land for private bidders. He rejected the allegations of bias and came down heavily on the government for seeking his recusal.

The application was filed on the basis of an affidavit on oath made by Mr. Pravin Kumar, Special Officer, Mission of A.P, I.T Towers, Mangalagiri, Guntur District/Mission Director, Mission Build Andhra Pradesh, Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The allegations in the affidavit were discarded as "untrue" and "false" amounting to "perjury". The bench ordered the initiation of criminal proceedings for perjury against the officer and issued show-cause notice for contempt action against him.

While rejecting the recusal application, Justice Kumar also made strong critical remarks against the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, and several decisions of the State Government. The judge also referred to the bombastic letter shot by the Chief Minister to the CJI alleging that certain High Court judges were trying to destabilize his government at the instance of the opposition party.

The judge even went to the extent of stating that High Court and Supreme Court was under attack from persons in power. Not stopping there, Justice Kumar also made critical remarks against the Collegium decisions to transfer the Chief Justices of AP and Telangana High Courts and wondered if those decisions were linked to Jagan's letter to CJI.

Andhra Pradesh High Court Judge Calls For Collegium Transparency In The Wake Of Transfer Proposals Of Chief Justices Of AP, Telangana HCs

Notably, the curious order with scathing obiter observations was passed by Justice Kumar on the eve of his retirement.