From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: A writ petition is filed in the Supreme Court to injunct the implementation of the gazette notification of December 28, 2023 rolling out The Chief Election Commissioner and the other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Condition of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
Gopal Singh, whose petition was filed by advocate-on-record Sanjeev Malhotra and drawn by advocate Anjale Patel, asked the court to implement an “independent and transparent system of selection, constituting a neutral and independent selection committee for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners (CEC and ECs)”.
The new law sidesteps a March 2023 Constitution Bench judgment, which included the Chief Justice of India as a member of a high-powered committee to select suitable persons for appointment as CEC and ECs.
The judgment had directed the appointment to the posts of CEC and the ECs to be done by the President of India on the basis of the advice tendered by a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and, in case, there is no such Leader, the Leader of the largest party in the Opposition in the Lok Sabha having the largest numerical strength, and the Chief Justice of India.
However, the new law laid down that the CEC and ECs would be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
The CJI was ruled out of the equation and the government won primacy in the appointment process. The law said the CEC and ECs would be chosen from a pool of bureaucrats holding the rank of secretary to the Government of India.
“The pivotal legal question placed for the court’s consideration in the writ petition revolves around the constitutional inquiry of whether the Parliament or any legislative assembly possesses the authority to promulgate a gazette notification or ordinance to nullify or amend a judgment previously rendered by the Supreme Court, particularly when the judgment emanates from a Constitution Bench,” the petition submitted.
