The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by activist Harsh Mander. (File)The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a petition filed by ex-bureaucrat Harsh Mander seeking recusal of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi from the case related to the treatment of inmates in Assam’s detention centres.
Saying that recusal would amount to “destruction of the institution”, a bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna also removed the name of Mander as petitioner in the case and replaced him with Legal Services Authority.
According to Mander, comments and observations made by CJI Gogoi in the matter had raised serious apprehensions in the mind of the applicant that there is a possibility of bias affecting the outcome of the petition, Live Law reported. Taking strong exception to Mander’s contentions, the apex court said his “grounds have enormous potential to damage the institution”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the government did not support the application for recusal. “This is scandalous,” Mehta said.
The development came while the court was hearing a PIL filed by Mander on the plight of foreigners in detention centres in Assam. The petition contended that they have been kept in detention even after they were declared foreign nationals because their parent country won’t accept them.
In its last hearing in April, the Supreme Court sought to know what steps were being taken by the Assam government to trace those who have been declared foreign nationals but have mixed with the local population.
