CJI requested to take a call on conflicting judgements

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra was on Thursday requested to take a call on "resolving the issue by a larger bench" after a piquant situation arose in the Supreme Court with a three-judge bench reversing a judgement of another three-judge bench in land acquisition.

The conflict came to light on Wednesday after a three-judge bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Deepak Gupta criticised the February 8 judgement passed by another three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra which held that land acquisition will not lapse even if the money is not deposited in the court and the landowners have not been paid. It had further said compensation not availed within a stipulated five-year period would not be a ground for cancellation of land acquisition.

This judgement passed by 2:1 majority declared the 2014 verdict in 'Pune Municipal Corporation' case - also delivered by a three-judge bench comprising then CJI R M Lodha and Justices Lokur and Joseph - as 'per incuriam' (without due regard to law). This judgement  was seen as a shot in the arm for the government in land acquisition matter.

Notably, Justices Lokur and Joseph were among the four senior-most judges who held a press conference on January 12, criticising CJI for allocating the matter of far-reaching consequences to select benches. Justice Arun Mishra was then in the centre of a controversy as they objected to putting the Loya death case before him.

On Wednesday, the bench led by Lokur declared the judgement passed by Justices Mishra and Adarsh K Goel as "tinkering with judicial discipline". The court then asked the high courts not to proceed on the basis of February 8 judgement. The bench put the matter for consideration on March 7 to decide if it can be referred to a larger bench.

On Thursday, a number of land acquisition cases were separately listed before a bench of Justices Mishra and Amitava Roy and another bench of Justices Goel and U U Lalit.

After being apprised of Wednesday's order, the Justice Mishra-led bench ordered, "since a larger issue is involved, we refer the matter to the CJI to be dealt with by an appropriate bench."

Justice Mishra, who authored the February 8 verdict, concurred by Justice Goel, said the bench had then taken a "considered view" in its judgement running into around 200 pages but "probably nobody would have read it completely".

"You have started attacking it. First read it. Go through it. Let it be set aside. We do not mind," Justice Mishra observed on Thursday.

Similarly, the bench led by Justice Goel, who was part of February 8 judgement, ordered, "We are of the view that having regard to the nature of the issues involved in the matter, the issues need to be resolved by a larger bench at the earliest."

This bench of Justices Goel and Lalit ordered for placing the matter before "appropriate bench" on Friday as per the order of the CJI.