This article was authored by Raghav Pandey, Assistant Professor of Law, Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai and Neelabh Kumar Bist, a student at Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai. This article attempts to analyse the conundrum pertaining to recusal and highlights takeaways for India from similar cases in other jurisdictions.
Abstract
The recent hue and cry in the Supreme Court regarding the non-recusal of Justice Arun Mishra has captured the attention of the legal academia all over the country. While there have been opinions written about the situation on different news portals, there hasn’t been much engagement around the entire concept of recusal as is followed in our country. This paper is a novel attempt to address the same. The authors have analysed the conundrum pertaining to recusal from the lens of its origination and the application of the doctrine to the case of Justice Mishra’s recusal. Through the means of examining the case of recusals as understood in the United States and the United Kingdom, the authors have highlighted the points that could be take-aways for a country like India which is in urgent need of a clear procedure with respect to judicial recusals.