Legal expert divided on SC order criticising its larger bench

A rare outburst by a smaller bench of the Supreme Court today against the orders of its larger benches for overstepping its jurisdiction in cases relating to Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh assembly matters has drawn mixed reactions from the legal fraternity.

A rare outburst by a smaller bench of the Supreme Court on Monday against the orders of its larger benches for overstepping its jurisdiction in cases relating to Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh assembly matters has drawn mixed reactions from the legal fraternity.

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Some legal experts have hailed the order saying that the Supreme Court is right in "admonishing" itself while a few senior lawyers viewed it as reflection of "divided judiciary", which is not healthy for the institution.

A Bench of Justice AK Mathur and Justice Markandey Katju in today's order observed that the interim orders of larger Benches of the Supreme Court relating to assembly proceedings in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, are "two glaring examples of deviation from the clearly provided Constitutional scheme of separation of powers".

Former Chief Justice of India AS Anand, commenting on the observations of the court, said judicial discipline warrants that the orders of the bench of "higher strength" are binding on smaller benches.

"Judicial discipline requires to be followed by all," he noted.

"The High Courts and Supreme Court, in many cases, have not understood the limitation of their power," he said, adding, "it is good that some Judges realised the limitation of judicary".