Full Judgment Text
NON-REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
SLP (Crl.) No. 9445 OF 2022
Sanjiv Kumar Rajendrabhai Bhatt …Petitioner(s)
Versus
State of Gujarat & Anr. …Respondent(s)
O R D E R
M.R. SHAH, J.
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.
2. We have heard Shri Devadatt Kamat, learned
Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner,
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by R
Natarajan
Date: 2023.05.10
17:45:38 IST
Reason:
Shri Maninder Singh, learned Senior Advocate appearing
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on behalf of the State and Shri A.N.S. Nadkarni, learned
Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the original
complainant.
3. Learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the
petitioner has heavily relied upon the observations made
by this Court in paragraph 17 in the case of Ranjit Thakur
Vs. Union of India and Ors., (1987) 4 SCC 611 as well
as on the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of
Locabail (U.K.) Ltd. Vs. Bayfield Properties Ltd. and
Anr., (2000) 2 WLR 870 (paragraph 25). Therefore, it is
prayed that one of us my recuse from the matter.
4. The prayer is vehemently opposed by Shri Maninder
Singh, learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of
the State as well as Shri A.N.S. Nadkarni, learned Senior
Advocate appearing on behalf of the original complainant.
4.1 It is vehemently submitted that the prayer is nothing
but an attempt to abuse the process of law and to indulge
in Forum Shopping and Bench Hunting. It is submitted
that earlier the very petitioner when approached this
Hon’ble Court in the matter arising out of the same FIR
pertaining to the order challenging the refusal of the High
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Court to suspend the sentence of the petitioner being SLP
(Crl.) Diary No. 2028 of 2020, no such prayer was made.
It is submitted that, however, with a mala fide intention
and to avoid the Bench, the prayer has been made, which
is to be deprecated.
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
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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.
………………………………….J.
[M.R. SHAH]
NEW DELHI; ………………………………….J.
MAY 10, 2023. [C.T. RAVIKUMAR]
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