1. A letter has been circulated by the petitioner praying that one of us may recuse from the matter as while deciding one matter before the High Court in the year 2011 arising out of the same FIR, the Court made stricture against the conduct of the petitioner on the delaying tactics adopted by him.
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5. Having heard the learned Senior Advocates appearing on behalf of the respective parties at length on the letter circulated, we are of the opinion that the request of recusal is nothing but an attempt to indulge in Forum Shopping and Bench Hunting and to avoid the Bench with mala fide intention. It is to be noted that earlier the Bench headed by one of us heard the special leave petition in a case relating to the very FIR and filed by the very petitioner and at that point of time, no such objection was raised and no such prayer was made. It is also required to be noted that even when the present special leave petition was notified, a number of occasions after the letter dated 09.11.2022, namely, 14.12.2022, 10.01.2023, 27.02.2023, 28.03.2023, 02.05.2023 and the matter was adjourned even at the request of the learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner. At that time, the letter dated 09.11.2022 was not pressed into service. However, thereafter when the present special leave petition is taken up for further hearing today and actually being heard, the letter is pressed into service, which is nothing but an attempt on the part of the petitioner to avoid the Bench, which is required to be deprecated. Earlier, merely because some proceedings might have been heard by one of us before the High Court in connection with the present matter and/or proceedings and some observations might have been made against the petitioner on the delaying tactics, cannot be a ground to accede to the request made by the petitioner. As the prayer lacks bona fide and seems to have been made with mala fide intention to avoid the Bench for no valid reason, the prayer for recusal is rejected.
PARTY: Sanjiv Kumar Rajendrabhai Bhatt vs. State of Gujarat & Anr – SLP (Crl.) No. 9445 of 2022 – MAY 10, 2023.
https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2022/29504/29504_2022_4_12_44404_Judgement_10-May-2023.pdf
