Sorry, had to tell you, advocate says after Justice Lalit recuses from Ayodhya hearing

New Delhi, Jan 10: There was some amount of drama at the Supreme Court, which was today scheduled to fix a date for hearing of the Ayodhya appeals. A Constitution Bench was set up on Tuesday and it was widely reported that it comprised the Chief Justice of India and four future CJIs.

However when the matter came up for hearing today, the Bench was informed that Justice Uday U Lalit had appeared for Kalyan Singh in a contempt case related to the Ayodhya issue. This led to Justice Lalit recusing himself as a result of which the matter had to be adjourned to January 29 to facilitate the re-constitution of the Bench.

Before the CJI could record the order, Senior Advocate, Rajeev Dhawan who pointed out to the Bench about Justice Lalit said he would like to apologise.

Dhawan told the CJI, " I am sorry, but I had to bring it to your notice." To this the CJI replied, ' why are you sorry. You just started a simple fact.'

The CJI then noted in the order, "J (Justice) Laities recused after senior advocate, Rajeev Dhawan stated he had appeared in an Ayodhya connected matter."

Dhawan then asked the CJI not to mention his name. Why not it is a prominent name, the CJI said. To this Dhawan said people mistake him for R K Dhawan. Well then we will say Dr. Rajeev Dhawan, the CJI noted.

The case would next come up before a re-constituted Bench on January 29. The registry of the court has been asked to physically examine all documents connected with the case and inform the Bench about it on the next date of hearing.