The Delhi High Court on Friday questioned why the Election Commission (EC) did not intimate the AAP MLAs, facing disqualification, about the decision of one of the then Commissioners, O.P. Rawat, to rejoin the Presidential reference proceedings after his recusal earlier last year.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar remarked that the AAP MLAs should have been informed and told that Mr. Rawat had agreed to rejoin and participate.
“The rejoining or withdrawal of recusal by Mr. Rawat should have been communicated to the MLAs,” the Bench said.
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“This would have affected the response of the petitioners… There is also a difference between recusal and re-joining on withdrawal of the recusal. These were two separate stages and have different connotations and consequences,” the Bench noted.
On April 19 last year, Mr. Rawat had recused himself from the reference proceedings after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal questioned his independence. Mr. Rawat later re-joined the reference proceedings on September 22, 2017.
He became the Chief Election Commissioner in January this year.
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“No one can act in a judicial capacity if his previous conduct gives grounds for believing that he cannot act with an open mind and impartially,” the Bench said.
“The broad principle being that the person trying a case must not only act unfairly and his acts should be above suspicion of unfairness and bias. These observations are relevant on the question of rejoining after recusal,” it added.
“The petitioners rightly submit that they were kept in dark. Thus there have been errors and lapses, which vitiate the opinion,” the court said in its verdict, which reinstated 20 AAP MLAs who were disqualified for holding office of profit.