Important Legal Definitions

Any direct or indirect financial interest, however small, held by an adjudicator in the subject matter of the litigation, which automatically disqualifies the judge without needing to prove actual bias.

In J. Mohapatra & Co. v. State of Orissa, members of an official committee appointed by the state government to evaluate and select books for school libraries were themselves authors of some of the submitted books; the Supreme Court invalidated the selections due to pecuniary bias.