Chandigarh, Oct. 10 -- A Punjab and Haryana high court judge on Thursday recused from hearing a clutch of petitions from Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers on the final judgment day after an e-mail pointed out that the judge in question had once appeared as a lawyer in "connected matters".

While recusing from hearing the petitions, from eight HCS officers, the bench of justice Tribhuvan Dahiya remanded back the matter to chief justice requesting him to place it before some other bench. The matter was reserved for final order on September 25 after it was heard at least on eight occasions since May when these petitions were filed. And as per the order an e-mail was received from a Bhiwani resident stating that the judge has been a couns...