Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Election Commissioner's Appointment Process
The case will come up for a detailed hearing in August.
The Supreme Court refused on Thursday to stay a legislation that removes the chief justice of India from the selection panel to appoint election commissioners.
Arguing against the law, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan said the Union government was aware that the court was going to hear the case on March 15, and it deliberately appointed the new election commissioners a day prior to the hearing so as to render the application for stay infructuous.
None of the members of the panel had any time to apply their minds while selecting these commissioners, according to Bhushan.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta expressed concern regarding the pace at which these election commissioners were appointed. The court clarified that it was not questioning the credentials of the elected commissioners but was only expressing its concern regarding the speedy procedure that was adopted.
However, the bench was not inclined to stay the application of the law at this stage and, therefore, posted the case for a detailed hearing in August.
The apex court also directed the Union government to furnish its response to the main pleas, which challenge the law on constitutional grounds, within six weeks.
According to the legislation under challenge, election commissioners will be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a Union cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister.
The legislation is in the teeth of a top court judgment that directed the selection panel to comprise the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI.
