ON MONDAY, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma refused to recuse herself from adjudicating the revision application against the Rouse Avenue Court’s decision to discharge all accused, including former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, in the Delhi Excise Policy Case. The decision came in the recusal application filed by Kejriwal and a few other accused persons requesting the recusal of Justice Sharma on the grounds of apprehension of bias on her part in the accused persons’ minds.
In their application, they had averred that Justice Sharma’s language and tenor in her previous decisions involving the applicants evinced a preconceived opinion in the judge's mind regarding their guilt. Moreover, they argued that the Court, in the present revision petition, had been too generous to the Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’).
The applicants particularly stressed that the Court made prima facie observations against the discharge order of the Rouse Avenue Court, even without hearing the applicants. Kejriwal, in an additional affidavit, had further invoked the empanelment of Justice Sharma’s children as Central Government Counsel as a ground for recusal.
On April 13, appearing in person, Kejriwal had listed ten reasons as to why a reasonable apprehension of bias had arisen – ranging from an order passed by her on March 9 where she remarked that the trial court’s discharge order was prima facie erroneous after a short, urgent hearing, to her participation in events of the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, the legal wing of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh. That day, Justice Sharma had reserved judgment.
