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For the second day, Justice Arun Mishra stands his ground
Justice Arun Mishra of the Supreme Court on Wednesday said “sponsored” articles and critical social media posts had steeled his resolve to not buckle under and recuse himself as lead judge of a Constitution Bench reviewing his own past judgment. For the second consecutive day, Justice Mishra stood his ground amid arguments raised by petitioners as to why he ought to recuse himself from the Constitution Bench set up to examine the contentious issue regarding the interpretation of Section 24 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
Verdict under review
The Constitution Bench is reviewing a majority judgment given by Justice Mishra on February 8, 2018, countering a 2014 judgment of the Supreme Court. Petitioners said Justice Mishra, having given a judgment on the issue, may be predisposed to decide in favour of his own earlier view as being correct. But Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the judge to not recuse himself in the interest of the institution. Mr. Mehta termed the articles about the choice of Justice Mishra as the lead judge as meant to influence public opinion. The top government law officer said such articles were examples of people resorting to an “intellectually surreptitious method to influence the judges”. “I tell you all of them [articles, social media posts] are sponsored,” Justice Mishra asserted. “There is a certain lobby behind them.” The judge said he had decided to stay on the Bench to thwart such attempts against the judiciary. The Bench finally reserved the question of recusal of Justice Mishra for orders.
