Supreme Court judge U U Lalit on Monday recused himself from hearing pleas seeking action against Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy for levelling allegations against the judiciary.
"I have difficulties. As a lawyer, I had represented one of the parties. I will pass an order for it to be listed before a Bench without me," Justice Lalit said.
A bench comprising justices Lalit, Vineet Saran, and S Ravindra Bhat was to hear three petitions seeking various reliefs against Reddy.
The pleas alleged that Reddy not only wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde leveling allegations against the judiciary but also held a press conference in which false statements were made.
In an unprecedented move, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister had on October 6 written to the CJI alleging that the Andhra Pradesh High Court was being used to "destabilise and topple my democratically elected government".
The three separate petitions were filed by advocates G S Mani, Sunil Kumar Singh, and Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust.
