SC order on recusal of Justice Mishra from land acquisition case on Oct 23

The Supreme Court Wednesday said it will pronounce order on October 23 on a plea seeking recusal of Justice Arun Mishra from the 5-judge Constitution bench which is hearing challenge to the validity of provisions related to compensation in the Land Acquisition Act.

The bench, also comprising Indira Banerjee, Vineet Sharan, M R Shah and S Ravindra Bhat, concluded the hearing on the plea made by various farmers associations and private individuals seeking the recusal of Justice Mishra.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan and other counsels appearing for various farmer associations and individuals said that Justice Mishra should recuse himself from hearing the matter as he was part of the verdict pronounced last year in which he has expressed his mind.

They sought his recusal on the ground of judicial propriety saying that the bench is examining the correctness of the verdict which was also authored by him.

Justice Mishra was part of the verdict in February last year which held that land acquisition by a government agency could not be quashed for delay on the part of land owners in accepting compensation within five years due to reasons such as lingering court cases.

In 2014, another verdict had held however that land acquisition can be quashed on account of the delay in accepting the compensation.

On March 6 last year, the apex court had said that a larger bench would test the correctness of the verdicts delivered by these two benches of similar strength on the same issue.