SC judge U U Lalit recuses himself from hearing pleas against AP CM

Supreme Court judge U U Lalit on Monday recused himself from hearing pleas seeking action against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S 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 levelling 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.