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| Apex Court defers hearing on pleas | | CEC, ECs appointments | | 
New Delhi, Feb 19:
Agencies
The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the pleas against the appointments of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (EC) under the 2023 law.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh indicated that the matter would be listed after the Holi festival break due to paucity of time. However, no date was fixed for hearing the matter.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, said it was an important issue which required an urgent consideration.
He said the matter involved a short legal question — whether the 2023 Constitution bench verdict should be followed for the appointment of the CEC and ECs through a panel involving the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India or the 2023 law, which excludes the CJI from the panel.
At around 3 pm, Justice Surya Kant told Bhushan that he would be sitting in a special bench and the court had numerous matters listed before the Holi break.
Bhushan requested the matter to be listed on any day in the coming week and assured the petitioners would not take more than an hour to advance submissions.
Advocate Varun Thakur, appearing for petitioner Jaya Thakur, also mentioned the matter for an urgent hearing saying it was “very important for the survival of democracy”.
Justice Surya Kant said, for the court, all matters were equally important and no single matter was superior to others.
Earlier, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, expressed his inability to address the court on the issue saying he was appearing before the Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna on the issue of arbitration.
On February 18, the top court said it would take up on “priority basis” the pleas against the appointments of the CEC and ECs under the 2023 law.
Bhushan said the government by appointing the new CEC and EC under the 2023 law was making a “mockery of democracy”.
On February 17, the government appointed EC Gyanesh Kumar as the next CEC.
Kumar is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law and his term would run till January 26, 2029, days before the EC is expected to announce the schedule of the next Lok Sabha election.
Vivek Joshi, a 1989-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer, was appointed as an election commissioner.
Born on May 21, 1966, Joshi (58) would serve in the poll panel till 2031.
According to the law, a CEC or an EC retires at 65 or could have a tenure in the poll panel for six years.
On February 12, the top court fixed February 19 to hear pleas against the appointment of the CEC and EC under the 2023 law saying if anything happened in the interregnum, the consequences were bound to follow.
It said the issue would be decided on merit and finally.
Bhushan referred to the 2023 verdict, saying it held that the election commissioners had to be selected for appointment by an independent panel comprising the prime minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India.
On March 15, 2024, the top court refused to stay the appointments of the new ECs under the 2023 law which excluded the CJI from the selection panel and deferred the hearing on a batch of pleas against the appointments.
The apex court told the petitioners that the March 2, 2023 verdict directed for the three-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the CJI to operate till Parliament enacted a law.
The apex court’s verdict held that leaving the appointment of the ECs and CEC in the hands of the executive would be detrimental to the health of the country’s democracy and the holding of free and fair elections.
The NGO challenged the CJI’s exclusion and said the election commission should be insulated from “political” and “executive interference” for maintaining a healthy democracy.
ADR’s plea alleged the verdict was overruled by the Centre without removing its basis and the composition of the selection committee under the new law which amounted to excessive interference of the executive in the appointments and was detrimental to the independence of the poll panel.
Former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu were recommended to be appointed as ECs in 2024 by a selection panel chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the new law. |
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