The Supreme Court recently saw some unusual circumstances. A three-judge bench questioned the ruling of another three-judge bench. The disunity between the benches raises the question of judicial discipline and propriety.
A bench of the court is usually allowed to reject the verdict passed by a smaller bench. But on February 8th three-judge bench was critical of a verdict passed by a top court bench in 2014. Thus the verdict on land acquisition was stayed on 21st February until the issue was sorted. It could now be that there would need t0 be a larger bench to look into the verdict. A three-judge bench of Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Deepak Gupta said, “We are of the opinion that it would be appropriate if in the interim and pending a final decision on making a reference (if at all) to a larger Bench, the High Courts be requested not to deal with any cases relating to the interpretation of or concerning Section 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.”
The bench asked the Secretary-General to communicate the order to the Registrar General of every High Court. It also asked other benches hearing similar matters to defer the hearing. On 8th February a bench comprising Arun Mishra, A.K. Goel and Mohan M. Shantanagoudar declared that the compensation not availed within the 5-year stipulated time will not be grounds to cancel the land acquisition. The bench led by Justice Mishra in a majority of 2:1 said that 2014 verdict in a case regarding the Pune Municipal Corporation was taken ‘per incurium’ or passed without due regard to law. The 2014 verdict in question said that the non-payment of compensation constituted a reason for cancelling the land acquisition.
Justic Joseph called this a matter of judicial discipline. The Bench said that the system exists and if someone starts “tinkering” with it then the institution could go forever. A further hearing on the matter has been scheduled for March 7th. If the court isn’t in consensus and methodology isn’t maintained it could affect the deliverance of justice within the country.