The two-judge bench hearing the day-to-day appointment of government lawyers has recused itself from the hearing. The court has ordered that the matter be listed before another bench after obtaining an order from the Chief Justice. At the request of Gaurav Mehrotra, the appointed amicus curiae, the court also relieved him of his duties as amicus curiae.
This order was passed by a division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Prashant Kumar on petitions filed by Mahendra Singh Pawar and others in 2017 and 2022. The petitions sought to make the appointment process for all government lawyers appointed to the High Court transparent and to provide opportunities for all ordinary lawyers to participate in this process. The court stated in its order that the amicus curiae was arguing during the hearing on September 25th. Due to time constraints, the hearing could not be completed, and the Dussehra and Diwali holidays were also falling on the same day. Therefore, it proposed to set October 27th for the next hearing. However, one of the petitioners, advocate Mahendra Nath Rai, objected to this. He also had some objections to the arguments made by the amicus curiae. The court remarked that, without saying much, it is simply ordering that the case be presented before another bench, which does not include the two judges.