The Indian Express: Mumbai: Wednesday, September 27, 2017.
Bombay High
Court judge Justice Makarand Karnik has recused himself from hearing a public
interest litigation pertaining to the highrise society for sitting HC judges in
suburban Mumbai. The matter will now come up before a different bench of the
High Court.
Activist
Ketan Tirodkar has filed a PIL questioning the state government’s decision to
construct the highrise for sitting HC judges. When the PIL came up before the
division bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Makarand Karnik on
September 20, Justice Karnik, who is a member of the society, recused himself
from hearing it. “Not before a bench of which Karnik J is a member,” the bench
ruled on the same day. “The matter will now be listed before some other bench,”
said Tirodkar.
According to
papers obtained under the Right to Information Act, on August 31, 2015, Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis sanctioned the housing scheme for the serving judges
on a 32,300 sq ft public plot in Oshiwara, following a request made in this
regard by the proposed cooperative housing society of the judges.
The Indian
Express has published a series of reports on the government relaxing norms
while directing the state-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development
Authority to implement the housing scheme for the judges. While the
construction is yet to be carried out, the government has offered 84 homes,
each of 1,076-sqft, on ownership basis to the judicial officers. While the
government has sanctioned the memberships of 39 judges so far, two serving
judges have since surrendered their claim, while the membership of another
judge (now retired) has been kept in abeyance.
The PIL was
filed in the High Court registry on July 14. Tirodkar had also filed a writ
petition in the same matter on July 7.
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