Supreme Court judge recuses himself from hearing plea against Justice Khehar

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday did not hear a petition filed by a group of lawyers opposing the elevation of Justice JS Khehar as the next Chief Justice of India after a judge in the bench recused himself from hearing it.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who was part of the bench along with Justice L Nageswara Rao, preferred to opt himself out from hearing the plea filed by National Lawyers' Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms.

"List before a bench of which one of us (Ranjan Gogoi, J) is not a member," the bench said.

In its plea, the lawyers' body said that instead of Justice Khehar, Justice J Chelameshwar, now the fourth senior-most judge, should be elevated as he had given a dissenting view when the National Judicial Appointments Commission was struck down by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice Khehar.