The Chief Justice (CJ) of Bombay High Court, Dipankar Datta, on Thursday recused himself from hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the appointment of CBI director Subodh Jaiswal. The PIL was filed by retired ACP Rajendrakumar Tiwari. Datta said that a letter was written by the petitioner to the Chief Justice of India.
“It seems that the petitioner has written a letter to the CJI. It would be most appropriate if you approach any other bench,” the CJ said. Representing Tiwari, advocate Satish Talekar said that his client had not written any such letter and was ready to file an affidavit stating the same. Saying that justice should be seen to have been done and that it was very easy to tarnish someone’s image, the CJ stated that the case should be heard by another bench.
The PIL was filed seeking Jaiswal’s removal alleging that he does not have the required experience in investigating anti-corruption cases.
The central government had submitted an affidavit in response to the PIL stating that Jaiswal had the required experience to deal with graft cases before becoming the CBI director.