Stung by the interim order delivered on February 21 by a three-judge bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur which stayed the implementation of a February 8 verdict given by a bench of identical strength headed by him, Justice Arun Mishra has now urged Chief Justice Dipak Misra to set up a five-judge Constitution Bench of the top court to resolve the conflict in the land acquisition verdicts delivered by different benches of the top court.
On Wednesday, in a curious turn of events, an apex court bench comprising of Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurian Joseph and Deepak Gupta had stayed the implementation of a verdict delivered on February 8 by a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, AK Goel and MM Shantanagoudar in a land acquisition case related to the Indore Development Authority. The Bench headed by Justice Lokur, which was hearing another land acquisition case related to the State of Haryana but which had facts similar to the petition over which the Justice Arun Mishra-headed bench had passed it verdict, also restrained all high courts from entertaining or passing any order on land acquisition matters on the basis of the February 8 verdict.
Full details of the interim order issued by the Bench headed by Justice Lokur and the controversy linked to it can be accessed here: