Delhi High Court judge Vibhu Bakhru on Friday recused himself from hearing a plea by Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal who has challenged a travel ban against him.
Bakru did not explain why he was recusing himself from the case, reports said. “This matter will have to go before another bench,” he said while listing Goyal’s plea for July 8.
Goyal has challenged a lookout circular against him that prevents him from leaving the country. He also challenged some Home Ministry memorandums issued to him since December 2017, The Indian Express reported. His plea said that no first information report has been filed against him to warrant the issuance of a lookout circular, and that he came to know of the travel ban on May 25 when he and his wife Anita Goyal were offloaded from a flight to Dubai and then London.
The lookout circular was issued by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, which comes under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office has summoned Goyal to appear before it on July 10. The ministry had issued the circular against Goyal after an inspection had found large scale irregularities at Jet Airways.
Goyal and his wife had resigned from Jet Airways in March, but the airline suspended operations in April following massive debt. Naresh Goyal was the airline’s chairman and was also on the board when he resigned. Anita Goyal was also on the Jet Airways board.
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