PPSC case: Another judge recuses

Bansal had cited a Supreme Court judgment stating that the judgment makes it clear that a judge who has dealt with an issue on the administrative side shall not preside over the same on the judicial side. Bansal had added that the Supreme Court judgment clearly states that a judge should recuse himself from hearing a case on the judicial side if he has already dealt with the issue on the administrative side.

The Full Bench,constituted to decide the issue of segregation of tainted from non tainted officers from the selection,had orally observed that as per the said Supreme Court judgment,no judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court will be able to preside over the case.

However,the Full Bench had recused from hearing the case and had left it to Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal to decide as to which judges will preside over the case. A month later,a new Full Bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi,Alok Singh and Rajan Gupta was constituted in which Justice Gupta had recused. Today,Justice Bindal sitting in the Full Bench of Justices Gogoi and Alok Singh recused from hearing the case.

It might be recalled that all the candidates had lost their jobs after Sidhu was arrested by Punjab Vigilance on charges of taking crores of rupees from officers of batches between 1998 and 2001 for appointing them as judges.