IN an unusual development in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, shortly following Chief Justice Sheel Nagu’s decision to withdraw a case from the bench of Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu following a written and oral complaint pertaining to ‘bench-hunting’, an advocate explicitly requested his petition to be transferred to Justice Sindhu’s bench.
The matter was listed before the bench of Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul of the Punjab & Haryana High Court. On May 28, Justice Kaul recorded this unusual submission by Bimal Maini, the advocate for the petitioner, in her order.
Justice Kaul has now sent the matter to Chief Justice Nagu for seeking his orders regarding the listing of the case.
Matter in question pertains to grant of bail
Sajad Ahmad Bhat, the petitioner in the case, is seeking bail in offences under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will etc), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 511 (Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The petition was listed before Justice Kaul’s bench thrice - the first time on March 28, 2025, the second time on May 16, 2025 and the third time on May 28, 2025.
On the first day of hearing, no one appeared for the petitioner. On the second day of hearing, the matter was adjourned at the request of the petitioner’s counsel. And finally on May 28, the counsel for petitioner demanded that the matter be listed before Justice Sindhu.
Even if one were to seek recusal of Justice Kaul for some reasons, the demand of the lawyer to have the matter mentioned before the bench of a particular judge is unusual.
Allegations of bench-hunting in Punjab & Haryana HC
On May 29, The Leaflet reported that an oral and written complaint to Chief Justice Nagu, sources suggested, alleged an instance of bench-hunting. In a corruption case involving a prominent real estate company, and a now suspended CBI Special Judge, particular tactics were deployed to transfer cases from one bench to another. Eventually that case had landed before Justice Sindhu who heard and even reserved the judgement in the matter, at which point, Chief Justice Nagu withdrew the matter and placed it before his own bench.
Incidentally, before the corruption matter came to Justice Sindhu, it was listed before Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul’s bench, who recused from the matter owing to the involvement of one advocate YK Singla. However, it appears that Singla’s on-paper involvement in the case (since he never actually made any appearance), may have been merely to get the matter transferred to a different bench.