The issue of the formation of a selection panel for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners continues to enliven the Indian judiciary, with Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant expressing reluctance to continue hearing a series of petitions challenging a law that replaced the CJI with a Union Minister in the selection panel.
The CJI recused himself from hearing, as the petitions challenging the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service, and Term of Office) Act of 2023 relate to the office of the Chief Justice of India.
It was virtually senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), who suggested that the case should be shifted to a bench that did not have a prospective Chief Justice of India as either the lead or associate judge.
The CJI, while acknowledging Bhushan’s recommendation, said that he should mark this matter to a Bench where the judge may not be in line to become the CJI.
The Bench has now listed the case for hearing on April 7 before an appropriate Bench.
Earlier the selection panel for appointing the CEC and Election Commissioners comprised the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But the law was amended by the current BJP government at the Centre, replacing the CJI with a PM’s nominee from the Union Cabinet.
The petitioners now claim that the new law was introduced to dilute a Constitution Bench ruling delivered in March 2023 in Anoop Baranwal versus Union of India, which had included the Chief Justice of India as a member of the high-powered selection committee responsible for the appointments of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs).
It needs to be noted here that CJI Surya Kant, on an earlier occasion, made a terse observation saying that the test regarding the validity of the 2023 Act would hinge on whether the apex court’s authority to pronounce binding decisions under Article 141 of the Constitution could be circumvented or diluted by a law.
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