Another Judge vs Judge tussle brewing in Supreme Court, order voided by ’rebel’ bench

Mangalore Today News Network

Feb 22, 2018: A fresh controversy is brewing in the Supreme Court, this time between a bench led by Justice Madan Lokur on one side and another bench led by Justice Arun Mishra on the other.

At the heart of the controversy is a judgment passed by the bench led by Justice Arun Mishra. Concerning the Land Acquisition Act, 2003, the judgement, that was passed this month, states that the central government has authority over an acquired land even when compensation hasn’t been paid to the people concerned.

The judgement said that compensation will be considered as paid even if the money is lying in the government treasury.

In a twist of events, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Madan Lokur and consisting Justice Kurien Joseph criticised the above mentioned judgement.

The bench said that the judgement is against the principles of law and called the ruling "per incuriam" (meaning devoid of substance). In an order passed yesterday, the bench also asked High Courts to not rely on the judgement passed by Justice Mishra’s bench.

When a new land acquisition case came up in court today, Justice Arun Mishra refereed it to the Chief Justice of India for final disposal. It’s very unprecedented for a bench to call another bench’s order "per incuriam" when both benches have equal number of judges.

The bench led by Justice Arun Mishra has come under the scanner for being a ’preferred bench’, to which sensitive matters ar referred.

It is interesting to note that Justice Madan Lokur and Justice Kurien Joseph were part of the historic press conference in which the judges criticised the conduct of the Chief Justice of India.

Courtesy: Yahoo.com