A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a judgment delivered by a larger bench will prevail irrespective of the number of judges constituting the majority. To illustrate, the judgment of a 7-judge bench delivered with 4:3 majority will prevail over a unanimous 5-judge bench.
A 5-judge bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee, Hemant Gupta, Surya Kant, M. M. Sundresh and Sudhanshu Dhulia gave this ruling while answering the second issue in the case Trimurthi Fragrances (P) Ltd versus Govt of NCT of Delhi.
The bench pointed out that under Article 145(5), the concurrence of majority judges is viewed as judgment of the Court. It also noted that the same issue was answered by Justice Nageswara Rao’s judgment in Dr.Jayasree Patil case (Maratha quota case).
“If a unanimous 5 Judge Bench decision is overruled by a 7 Judge Bench, with four learned Judges speaking for the majority, and three learned Judges speaking for the minority, can it be said that the 5 Judge Bench has been overruled? Under the present practice, it is clear that the view of four learned Judges speaking for the majority in a 7 Judge Bench will prevail over a unanimous 5 Judge Bench decision, because they happen to speak for a 7 Judge Bench. Has the time come to tear the judicial veil and hold that in reality a view of five learned Judges cannot be overruled by a view of four learned Judges speaking for a Bench of 7 learned Judges? This is a question which also needs to be addressed and answered”.