Another Supreme Court judge recuses in corporate case

Yet another Supreme Court judge,Justice S H Kapadia,on Friday recused himself from hearing a case. Since the matter pertained to a public offer made by London-based Vedanta Resources to buy additional stake in iron-ore exporting firm Sesa Goa,Justice Kapadia — who is next in line to be the Chief Justice of India — decided to recuse himself as he holds shares in the firm’s sister concern,Sterlite Industries Limited.

Justice Kapadia,incidentally,is the third apex court judge to have recused himself from a business case in the recent past. Justice R V Raveendran had on Wednesday withdrawn from the three-member bench hearing the gas row between the Ambani brothers,claiming that his daughter was associated with a law firm advising the Mukesh Ambani group. Similarly,Justice Markandey Katju also recused himself from another RIL dispute with BPCL on the pricing of naphtha,as his wife holds shares in RIL.

Justice Kapadia was earlier part of a three-member special forest bench hearing a petition challenging mining of bauxite in hills in Orissa by Sterlite Industries. The judge had disclosed that he was a shareholder of the Vedanta Group company but neither party had objected to his being part of the bench. Still,certain sections of the media criticised him for not recusing himself.

Story continues below this ad

However,with details of their assets now made public,Supreme Court judges are treading with more caution. Before the counsel could start arguments today,Justice Kapadia,upon asking and then finding out that the case pertained to Sesa Goa,said,“Not before me.”

The Bench headed by Kapadia was hearing a petition filed by Harinarayan Bajaj,a BSE broker,in 2007 seeking a stay on implementation of the public offer made by Vedanta Resources to buy 20 percent additional stake in the iron ore exporting firm Sesa Goa.