SC judges vs judges: Earlier order by bench overturned by another 3-judge bench

The Supreme Court on Wednesday deplored the lack of "judicial discipline" among its own judges after its attention was drawn to a recent judgment by a three-judge bench that had overruled the order of another three-judge bench.

Usually, only a bench larger than the one that had delivered the judgment exercises the overturning power.

A three-judge bench of Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Deepak Gupta, asked the high courts across the country not to decide any case of land acquisition on the basis of the new ruling.

The Bench headed by Justice Lokur is now considering whether the issue should be referred to a larger Bench.

On February 8, a three-judge bench of Justices Arun Mishra, A.K. Goel and M.M. Shantanagouder had ruled that land acquisition by a government agency cannot be set aside if the plot owners do not accept compensation within five years of its deposit with the treasury.

The February 8 judgment had interpreted the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, and the outcome appeared beneficial for the Central and state governments.

This judgment gave an upper hand to the government in land acquisition matters with their duty considerably reduced about making sure the compensation is adequate and proper for the landowners, in particular, farmers, so that the acquisition does not lapse on this score alone.

"The hoary principle of this great institution is you can't tinker with the system. If a judgment is wrong, there is a method of reference to a larger bench and this is the practice being followed over the years. If the Supreme Court is one, it should be made one and you need a conscious judicial discipline to do that. My painful concern is that this judicial discipline has not been followed. If it wants to correct an earlier judgment, it should be done by the larger bench to make it as the last word," Justice Kurian Joseph said.

The matter will be taken up for hearing on March 7 until which the new ruling shall cease to operate in the High Court and the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from Agencies)