By: ML Verma
Shimla: In less than 24 hours another division bench of Himachal Pradesh High Court recused itself from hearing Union steel minister Virbhadra Singh’s petition seeking transfer of his alleged corruption case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as two more judges on Friday refused to hear the case.
As the revision petition came up for hearing before the division bench comprising Justice RB Misra and Justice VK Sharma, both the judges recused themselves from the case. Justice Misra announced in the court that he ‘will not hear the case.’ He asked counsel for both the parties to ask Chief Justice Kurian Joseph for placing the petition before the appropriate court.
The counsel for petitioner, MS Chima later appeared before Chief Justice Joseph pleading to place the petition before another bench. The Chief Justice conceded the petitioner’s plea and assured to place the case before another bench after the lunch today.
In a similar way, yesterday Justice Rajeev Sharma had recused himself from hearing the case.