Eight justices have recused themselves from Adarsh Society case

Nearly eight justices of the Bombay High Court, have recused themselves from hearing the Adarsh Society plea so far, as they had some or the other conflict of interest while hearing it.

Yesterday, newly appointed Justice Prakash Naik recused himself from hearing the plea. Last week Justice G S Kulkarni had recused himself as he had represented one of the parties (Environment department) in the matter earlier, when he was senior counsel.

Justice V L Achaliya had also recused himself, as he was with the Law and Judiciary department of the state, and had worked in formation of terms of reference for the Adarsh Commission.

In April 2014, Shalini Phansalkar Joshi had recused herself from the matter. Similarly, Justices Revati Mohit Dhere, S A Bobde, B P Colabawala, V M Kanade had also recused themselves from hearing the matter.

"This is judicial discipline, and in interest of society that justices are keeping themselves away from deciding such type of matters, where they were involved once, or had some interest or represented one of the parties," said Hiten Vinegaonkar who is representing the CBI.

Praveen Wategaonkar had filed an appeal in 2014 in the Adarsh Society issue. The ministry of defence has filed a suit in the matter in 2012 claiming ownership of the land, and the state's two-member judicial panel has claimed the land belongs to state.