Justice B. Pugalendhi of the Madras High Court has refused to recuse himself from hearing a batch of petitions pertaining to PRP Granite Exports. A group of advocates, including those representing the firm, had made a request to place the petitions before some other judge, as Justice Pugalendhi had earlier represented the State government as Additional Advocate General against the granite firm in other cases.
Rejecting the plea for recusal, Justice Pugalendhi observed that he failed to understand the merits in the request. The judge said that he, as a Special Government Pleader and Additional Advocate General, had appeared before the High Court and the Supreme Court, in matters pertaining to granite firms, but not in these pending petitions.
An Additional Advocate General or a Special Government Pleader means an advocate appointed by the government to conduct cases for and behalf of the State in the court. The government based on merits hires advocates to represent it as Law Officers in official capacity and personal motives cannot be attributed to such advocates.
The relationship between the government and the law officers is that of a client and a counsel. Merely because the judge had represented several government bodies, as government counsel, that by itself cannot be a bar for this court from taking up any case filed by the government or against the government, the judge said.
Every person appointed to be a judge of the High Court, at the time of swearing-in, have solemnly affirmed that they will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution as by law established and perform duties of the office without fear or favour and to uphold the Constitution and the law.
Withdrawing from a case merely on a party’s request allows the parties to cherry pick a bench of their choice. If the plea is entertained and the court recuses itself from hearing, such an act, in the mind of this court, is a breach of the solemn responsibility, vested upon this court by the Constitution, the judge said.