#ImportantNews: The controversy over the alleged Delhi liquor-scam case before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma is no longer confined to courtroom conduct alone. Now more troubling questions of proximity, patronage, conflict-of-interest, and the appearance of bias have come to light.
Several of the 23 dischargees in the case had formally sought Justice SharmaтАЩs recusal from hearing the CBIтАЩs challenge to their discharge. Even then, the judge has so far resisted calls to step aside, even as former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself appears in person to argue the recusal application. Arguments are now scheduled for Monday, 13 April 2026.
In my last Case In Point column for @frontline_india, I had already revealed, through an analysis of all the 165 criminal revision petitions of the same category as KejriwalтАЩs case, that Justice Sharma clearly departed from her usual pattern of handling such matters and had taken an unusually strange interest in this case. That, along with many other details that if read in singularity can be met with a shrug, but when read together, reveals a troubling pattern and credible fears of apprehension of bias in the liquor case. These by itself had raised serious questions. You may read my piece here: https://t.co/GtqFKFhRYY
What has surfaced now makes those questions HARDER to dismiss.
Justice SharmaтАЩs son and daughterтАФIshaan Sharma and Shambhavi SharmaтАФhave both been empanelled by the Union government before the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.
According to the empanelment details, both siblings were appointed on the very same days: 11 September 2025 for the Delhi High Court panels and 21 November 2025 for the Supreme Court panels.
1. Ishaan Sharma holds panels before both courts, including the highest Group A panel before the Supreme Court and Senior Panel Counsel status before the Delhi High Court.
2. Shambhavi Sharma, with mere four years of enrolment as advocate, too holds panels before both courts: Group C before the Supreme Court and Government Pleader before the Delhi High Court.
3. Ishaan Sharma also held a panel in the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), under the Union Housing Ministry, till at least 2024 (Check: https://t.co/4DsDonRCyE).
4. He also held a panel in the Delhi State Legal Services Authority since 2021 until at least the end of 2024 (Check: https://t.co/KnfZFVJhCs).
Panel counselship is among the most coveted forms of government legal patronage in the system. Ask any advocate and they will tell you how through these positions, the government allocates litigation, visibility, professional standing, and income. But the more important and troubling part is that they are positions held at the pleasure of the very government whose top law officers are now appearing before Justice Sharma in one of the most politically explosive cases in the country. And that is where the conflict sharpens.
Of course, one need not prove an explicit bargain but justice must also be SEEN to be done, especially when it is a case of public interest. The test for seeking recusal of a judge is whether there exists a reasonable apprehension of bias and whether public confidence in the fairness of the process has been impaired. Like I had explained in my column, Indian law on recusal has long recognised that what matters is not just actual bias, but whether a litigant could REASONABLY FEEL that justice may NOT appear to be done. Here, several of the 23 dischargees feel justice may not be done impartially.
And now this issue of one advocate, who happens to be the son of a judge, accumulating large number of panels within a relatively short post-enrolment period as an advocate. Ask any lawyer and they will tell you how many more accomplished, brilliant persons, with many more years as an advocate have failed to secure a panel through the formal process. The concerns are many.
In this case, the question is whether a judge can continue to hear a politically sensitive challenge brought by the CBI, while her kin hold multiple Union government panels and receive work from the same legal establishment whose top officers allocate cases to them and are now appearing before her?
Note this: as per one RTI reply I received, Ishaan Sharma was allocated 2,487 cases in 2023, 1,784 cases in 2024, and 1,633 cases in 2025. In both 2024 and 2025, he was allocated more case files than even Zoheb Hossain, the top, most publicly visible Enforcement Directorate lawyerтАФby 91 in 2024 and by 582 in 2025. This of course suggests the sustained and substantial allocation of state work before the son. The allocation is done by the topmost in the legal system.
Also, this is not the first time that such questions of potential conflict of interest have arisen. In September 2024, I had highlighted the case of Padmesh Mishra, whose appointments across multiple union government and Rajasthan government positions drew scrutiny after his father, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, was elevated to the Supreme Court. Check: https://t.co/TVr35PmPx3
The unease then was the same as it is now: when the children of sitting judges begin to accumulate government panels and positions in unusual concentration, something a regular lawyer, perhaps much more brilliant and of more history of practice, can only dream of, particularly after or around the parentтАЩs rise within the judiciary, the issue is of institutional credibility.
And no one really needs to state that that credibility is already under strain. Recently, Justice Manmohan of the Supreme Court himself publicly flagged corruption in the appointment of panel counsels by the Union government, questioning whether such appointments are really being made on merit at all. In a system where even a sitting Supreme Court judge is warning that panel-counsel appointments may be infected by extraneous considerations, the appearance of conflict in the present case becomes still harder to shrug away. Check: https://t.co/RGSSDK7ekf
Seen in that light, the present controversy is again not whether Justice Sharma is actually biased. It is about whether the institution can credibly insist that there is nothing to see here. The CBI has just filed an affidavit supporting Justice Sharma. A judge who I have documented, as per her own orders, to show unusual interest in a politically sensitive matter now finds herself in a position where her own kind hold/held as many as SIX government panels between them, while their bosses continue to appear before her. Even if one were to assume the absence of any actual impropriety, does this arrangement augur well for the appearance of judicial independence, especially in this case? The question is whether this not enough evidence of apprehension of bias that should suffice for a recusal.
That is the question the High Court ought to have confronted with seriousness. Instead, by resisting recusal in these circumstances, the judge is unfortunately deepening this very suspicion that it should have avoided at all costs, or at least for the sake of institution.
@LAW1871 Absolutely true but do you think this is going to happen. There are many instances where recording/minimum marks are mandatory not to given below e.g. 10 wherein below 10 marks have been given to candidates, such cases were even brought to the notice of the court but of no avail
"This was terrorist attack, plain and simple": US House Foreign Affairs Committee slams NYT over headline of Pahalgam attack
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/qgJZh1JhiA
#India#Pahalgam#US#Pahalgamterroristattack
#WATCH | London | #PahalgamTerroristAttack | "...It is my expectation that all the political parties in the UK will join the Indian government expressing their support, whatever direction that India chooses to take, including military action if necessary, to eliminate those terrorist bases that exist on the opposite side of the Line of Control," says Padma Shri Bob Blackman, Conservative MP from Harrow East as he attends an event organised by High Commission of India at India House to pay a solemn tribute, honour and remember the victims of the horrific #PahalgamTerroristAttack.
Bob Blackman says, "We come to share the grief. When terror strikes, it strikes the hearts of humanity... This act (the terrorist attack) demonstrates the hatred towards people because of their religion, and this cannot be tolerated. I raised this issue in the House of Commons. I asked for a statement from the government to make sure that we express not only our grief and our support for India, but also for the actions that India will need to take following this terrorist attack. The sad reality is that we could see a rapid escalation. I offer my condolences to the victims, to their families and all Hindus. We are so sorry about it. I had the opportunity 9 years ago to visit Kashmir, and I have in mind the beauty of Kashmir... We cannot allow the terrorists to do such acts, and I fully support whatever India does to pursue the terrorists and those who backed the terrorists - make sure they are brought to justice, if they cannot be brought to justice, they must be eliminated..."
#WATCH | London | #PahalgamTerroristAttack | "On behalf of the government, I wanted to express condolences for the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam... We stand shoulder to shoulder with India in the face of cowardly attacks of terrorism against innocent civilians... We must pull together dangerous times like this to emphasise an element of justice that also extends our arms around the families and the communities growing deep sorrow. Thank you so much for this opportunity to be part of the prayer for peace today. We are with you," says Catherine West, Labour MP & Foreign Office Minister for the Indo-Pacific as she attends an event organised by the High Commission of India at India House to pay a solemn tribute, honour and remember the victims of the horrific #PahalgamTerroristAttack.
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Can save a life.
@nehafolksinger "Jaya Kishori tells people not to be materialistic, yet she herself uses a luxury bag costing over Rs. 2 lakh. Most of these preachers are like this, using our religion to profit and live a lavish life," another X user posted.Innocent people are being fooled by such preachers.