Land Acquisition Act: SC takes strong exception over social media campaign for recusal of judge

NEW DELHI: Justice Arun Mishra of the Supreme Court refused to recuse himself from the Constitution bench set up to examine a provision under the land acquisition law, saying he won’t give in to a social media campaign seeking his ouster from the panel on the grounds that he was part of the bench which had ruled on the matter in February 2018.

“The case shouldn’t have been placed before me. Now that it has, I will hear it,” Justice Mishra said on Tuesday, when the fivemember bench started hearing the case related to the interpretation of the land acquisition law.

The bench was set up last week after the top court said in March 2018 that a larger bench would examine the correctness of two separate rulings on land acquisition delivered by two separate benches of similar strength.


Dismissing demands that he recuse himself as an attempt to “malign” him and the institution, Justice Mishra said that social media criticism or slurs would not deter him from hearing a case. “I will be the first person to sacrifice if the integrity of institution is at stake. I am not biased and don’t get influenced by anything on earth. If I am satisfied that I am biased then only I will recuse myself from hearing this case,” he said.