Bombay High Court judge Justice Makarand Karnik has recused himself from hearing a public interest litigation pertaining to the highrise society for sitting HC judges in suburban Mumbai. The matter will now come up before a different bench of the High Court. Activist Ketan Tirodkar has filed a PIL questioning the state government’s decision to construct the highrise for sitting HC judges. When the PIL came up before the division bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Makarand Karnik on September 20, Justice Karnik, who is a member of the society, recused himself from hearing it. “Not before a bench of which Karnik J is a member,” the bench ruled on the same day. “The matter will now be listed before some other bench,” said Tirodkar. According to papers obtained under the Right to Information Act, on August 31, 2015, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sanctioned the housing scheme for the serving judges on a 32,300 sq ft public plot in Oshiwara, following a request made in this regard by the proposed cooperative housing society of the judges. The Indian Express has published a series of reports on the government relaxing norms while directing the state-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority to implement the housing scheme for the judges. While the construction is yet to be carried out, the government has offered 84 homes, each of 1,076-sqft, on ownership basis to the judicial officers. While the government has sanctioned the memberships of 39 judges so far, two serving judges have since surrendered their claim, while the membership of another judge (now retired) has been kept in abeyance. The PIL was filed in the High Court registry on July 14. Tirodkar had also filed a writ petition in the same matter on July 7.
