Two Benches refer land acquisition cases to CJI

Two Benches refer land acquisition cases to CJI

Context:

A fight between two Benches of the Supreme Court has landed before the Chief Justice of India for final settlement

What has happened?

• A three-judge Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur criticised another Bench for “tinkering with judicial discipline”.
• Justice Lokur’s Bench had found fault with a judgment delivered by another Bench of three judges led by Justice Arun Mishra in a land acquisition case on February 8.
• At the centre of the dispute is the question whether a three-judge Bench can overrule the judgment of another three-judge Bench.

About the February 8th Judgement:

• The February 8 judgment delivered by Justice Mishra’s Bench concerned compensation paid to landowners, mostly farmers, when their lands were acquired.
• In their majority opinion, Justices Mishra’s Bench had termed a 2014 judgment delivered by another three-judge Bench of then Chief Justice R.M. Lodha, Justices Madan B. Lokur and Justice Kurian as per incuriam. That is, they held that the 2014 judgment was rendered without care for facts and the law.