Eight out of the eleven Constitution Bench judgments of the Supreme Court in 2020 were delivered by Benches headed by Justice Arun Mishra

Eight out of eleven Constitution Bench judgments delivered by the Supreme Court in 2020 were rendered by Benches headed by Justice Arun Mishra. Apart from Justice Mishra, three judges - Justices Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran and MR Shah - were part of the Bench in all the eight of those judgments.

Four out of those eight judgments were authored by Justice Mishra himself.

Only one judge changed in those judgments. While four out of the eight judgments had Justice S Ravindra Bhat as the fifth judge, the remaining four had Justice Aniruddha Bose as the fifth judge.

Besides heading eight Constitution Benches, Justice Arun Mishra was also present as puisne judge on a ninth Constitution Bench when he sat on a six-judge Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana to decide a curative petition filed by one of four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.

Justice Mishra was also part of at least five three-judge Benches which delivered important judgments in 2020.

Below are the Bench-wise details of the Constitution Bench and important three-judge Bench judgments involving Justice Arun Mishra.

1. Protection under anticipatory bail should not be fixed for limited period

Case: Sushila Aggarwal v. State of NCT of Delhi [2020 5 SCC 1]

2. Consumer Forum has no jurisdiction to extend time beyond 45 days for opposite party’s version

Case: New India Assurance v. Hilli Multipurpose Cold Storage Pvt. Ltd. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 287]

3. Land acquisition under Land Acquisition Act of 1894 will not lapse if compensation is tendered in the State treasury

Case: Indore Development Authority v. Manoharlal & Ors. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 316]

4. Accused under NDPS Act not entitled to acquittal merely because informant was investigation officer

Case: Mukesh Singh v. State (Narcotic Branch of Delhi) [2020 SCC OnLine SC 700]

1. States, not MCI, have power to make reservation for in-service PG candidates in NEET courses

Case: Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 699]

2. SARFAESI Act will apply to co-operative Banks as it does to commercial banks

Case: Pandurang Ganpati v. Vishwasrao Patil Murgud Sahakari Bank Ltd [2020 SCC OnLine SC 431]

3. Government order providing 100% reservation for tribal teachers in Scheduled Areas unconstitutional

Case: Chebrolu Leela Prasad Rao & Ors. v.State of AP & Ors. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 383]

4. Sub-classification of Scheduled Castes: 5-judge Bench refers EV Chinnaiah to larger bench on whether Scheduled Castes form a homogenous class

Case: State of Punjab & Ors. v. Davinder Singh & Ors. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 677]

Curative petition and stay on execution of 2012 Delhi gang rape convict dismissed

Case: Pawan Kumar Gupta v. State of NCT of Delhi [2020 SCC OnLine SC 264]

1. Rights conferred on religious and linguistic minorities to administer educational institutions of their choice under Article 30 are not absolute, State can impose reasonable restrictions

Case: Christian Medical College Vellore Association v. Union of India & Ors. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 423]

2. Constitutional validity of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2018 upheld

Case: Prithvi Raj Chauhan v. Union of India & Ors. [2020 4 SCC 727]

3. Under Article 233, judicial officers can’t be appointed as District Judges through direct quota reserved for advocates

Case: Dheeraj Mor v. Hon’ble High Court of Delhi [2020 SCC OnLine 213]

4. Daughters become equal coparceners at birth even if born prior to 2005 amendment to Hindu Succession Act

Case: Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma & Ors. [2020 SCC OnLine SC 641]

5. Prashant Bhushan held guilty for contempt of court for tweets against CJI SA Bobde

Case: In re Prashant Bhushan & Anr [2020 SCC OnLine SC 698]

Justice Mishra retired as a judge of the Supreme Court on September 2 this year.