New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on March 21 a batch of petitions challenging the appointment of two new election commissioners under a 2023 law, in which the Chief Justice of India was dropped from the selection panel.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing a petitioner, submitted before a bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih, that the apex court had delivered a judgment and it cannot be affront by a law. Singh opposed dropping the CJI from the selection panel for the election commissioners and sought a stay on the appointment of election commissioners since the selection did not include the CJI.
“Twice the matter had come up and on both the occasions….normally and generally we do not stay by interim order a legislative…”, said Justice Khanna. The bench told the counsel for parties to file an application seeking stay on appointments and then it will be examined. Another counsel said some safeguards should be provided in the meanwhile.
The bench asked the counsel to file an application and made it clear the court cannot accept oral submissions. “Let that application come up…”, said Justice Khanna. The apex court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 21.
A plea filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms said the appointment of two new election commissioners should be as per the apex court’s judgment, which mandated the presence of the Chief Justice of India on the selection panel.
