Madhya Pradesh High Court judge recuses from case, says BJP MLA attempted to contact him

A Madhya Pradesh High Court judge recently revealed that BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sanjay Pathak tried to contact him regarding a pending case [Ashutosh Dixit v Economic Offences Wing & Ors].

In an order passed on September 1, Justice Vishal Mishra said that Pathak tried to contact him on phone.

"Mr. Sanjay Pathak has made an attempt to call me to have discussion regarding this particular matter, therefore, I am not inclined to entertain this writ petition," the Court said.

Therefore, Justice Mishra recused from the case and ordered the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice of the High Court for listing before another bench.

"Let the matter be placed before the Hon'ble Chief Justice for listing the matter before the appropriate Bench for consideration," the Court said.

The case relates to a writ petition filed in the High Court seeking action against people accused of illegal mining.

A man named Ashutosh Dixit had approached the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Bhopal, levelling these allegations. He then moved to the High Court alleging inaction on the part of EOW.

Dixit argued that the EOW failed to conclude, within a time-bound period, the preliminary enquiry.

Pathak filed an application before the High Court seeking to intervene in the matter and said that he should be heard too.

Notably, Pathak was not a party to the writ petition filed by Dixit.

Senior Advocate SR Tamrakar with advocate Ankit Chopra appeared for petitioner Ashutosh Dixit.

Advocate Madhur Shukla appeared for the Economic Offences Wing.

Advocate Anshuman Singh appeared for Sanjay Pathak.

[Read Order]