Justice Kumar also recollected how he maintained a "not before me" list while in the Bombay High Court including all the names of people who worked with him apart from his close relations.
Supreme Court judge Justice PV Sanjay Kumar said on Saturday that in order to maintain impartiality in cases heard by him, he follows the simple rule to recuse from any case where he knows any of the litigants or lawyers even remotely.
"Straight away recuse if one tries to influence me. You will not hear cases of people who are remotely connected to you," said Justice Kumar
He was responding to questions posed by a law student during an interactive session as part of the 4th Justice HR Khanna Memorial National Symposium organised by CAN Foundation.
Justice Kumar also recollected how he maintained a "not before me" list while in the Bombay High Court including all the names of people who worked with him apart from his close relations.
"In Bombay, I had a long list of "not before me" list which were all lawyers I worked with, juniors etc. It had 30 names. Justice Lokur told me 'what rubbish, office colleagues etc you can hear but only relations you cannot'. So that list came down to 2. I will never hear the case of anyone whom I even vaguely know," said Justice Kumar.
When asked how a lawyer should decide if they wish to enter judiciary, Justice Kumar stated that judgeship is a calling which 'comes to you'.
"Judgeship is a calling and it calls you and not vice versa. When you become a judge it is not about perks. It is a sense of duty and a sense of divine calling. If perks or status is what is calling you as a judge, then this will not sustain your interest in the profession," he said.
Justices Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan also candidly said that the judges are yet to go through the new criminal laws in order to form their opinions around the same.
"We had no opportunity to go through the new law and go through the provisions. There is no question of forming opinions.. and that is why I do not even read the newspapers. I have not seen the act as yet," Justice Kumar quipped.
In his address earlier in the day, Justice Kumar said that the Basic Structure doctrine propounded by the Supreme Court in the case of Keshavananda Bharati vs. State of Kerala protects the Constitution from being a replaced by a new one under the guise of Constitutional amendment by a majoritarian parliament.