The Duty To Step Aside: India's Recusal Jurisprudence Under The Microscope

Introduction

India’s courts are, at their best, the most vital institutions of our constitutional order. Their authority rests on one foundation above all else, which is the unshakeable belief that the person sitting in judgment has no stake in the outcome. Recusal jurisprudence, the body of law governing when a judge must step away from a matter, is the legal architecture that protects that very belief. It is not a technicality and it is certainly not a litigation tactic deployed by losing parties to delay proceedings. It is, at its core, a constitutional guarantee, that every litigant is entitled to a forum that not only is impartial, but visibly and demonstrably appears so.

This article examines the doctrine as it stands today, its foundational principles, its most controversial recent application, and the live controversy currently unfolding before the Delhi High Court. The picture that emerges is of a principle that is theoretically unassailable and practically, at times,