Justice Pius C Kuriakose on Friday recused himself from hearing various petitions against Harrisons Malayalam plantations and Gospel for Asia.
The decision was taken after a web-portal reported that the judge who was considering the cases against Harissons attested some documents of the group while he was a notary in Kochi.
A petition filed by A M Varghese seeking a directive to the Central and state governments to conduct a CBI probe into the activities of K P Yohannan, president of Gospel for Asia, and the petition filed by the state government against the illegal possession of government land and more than three other public interest litigations against Harrisons Malayalam and Gospel for Asia were pending before the court.