New Delhi: A five judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is likely to examine the correctness in payment of fair compensation in land acquisition proceedings following a recent decision by three judges over-ruling the decision rendered by another three judges.
Dealing with an appeal relating to land acquisition a three-judge bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Deepak Gupta, prima facie did not agree with the February 8 judgment of Justices Arun Mishra, A.K. Goel and M.M. Shantanagouder after the flaws were pointed out by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi in the award of land acquisition compensation.
Pending the reference, Justice Lokur Bench has requested all the high courts in the country not to render any final decision on petitions relating to higher compensation for land acquisition under the 2013 fair compensation law. When it was pointed out that some cases are listed for hearing before a two-judge bench of the apex court on Thursday and Friday, the three judges asked them to defer the hearing till March 7.
Justice Joseph said “We are not going into the merits or correctness of the decision by Justice Mishra’s bench. We are only concerned with judicial discipline. Can a three-judge bench over rule verdict of another three judges. If they differ in matter of opinion they can only refer the matter to the CJI for a decision by a larger bench.”
