SC judge withdraws from Ambani gas row

Justice R V Raveendran, part of the three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, has recused himself from Reliance Industries (RIL)– Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) case reports CNBC-TV18’s Nayantara Rai.

Justice Raveendran said that though his conscious is clear, it must seems as if justice is seen and not just done. He had recently learnt that his daughter worked as an associate with AZB & Partners, which has been advising RIL on some global markets, etc, since September 1.  

He said his conscious will not allow him to continue with the case.

Both the counsels ie Harish Salve for RIL and Ram Jethmalani for RNRL said that they had no objections to it but Justice Raveendran was quite adamant that he wanted to recues himself. Then both the counselors tried to persuade the Chief Justice of India that perhaps the remaining two members of the bench could carry on hearing the case. But the Chief Justice of India said “No, it is a very complex issue of national importance. Therefore, three-member Bench will be reconstituted. The daily hearings will begin tomorrow.”

But this has resulted in a major delay. The Supreme Court was trying to fast track the entire issue. There were daily hearings that began from October 20.