Surya Kant recused himself from hearing petitions challenging the law on appointment of Election Commissioners. A Bench including Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was scheduled to hear the matter.
NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant recused himself on Friday from hearing a batch of petitions challenging the statute that governs the appointment and service conditions of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners.
A Bench composed of CJI Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was set to take up the matter today, when the CJI opted to step aside.
The CJI observed,
“Should I hear this matter? Somebody may accuse me of conflict of interest,”
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The challenge contends that the contested law excludes the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for election commissioners.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing a petitioner, proposed that the case be referred to a Bench without any judge who is a prospective Chief Justice.
CJI Kant agreed with that approach to preempt any potential conflict. He remarked,
“This is what was in my mind. I should mark the matter to a Bench where the judge is not in line to become CJI. Then nobody can say anything. I have already done my homework”
The matter has been scheduled next for April 7. “List this matter on 7 April before a bench to be earmarked separately,” the Court ordered.
The statute under scrutiny the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 is challenged on the basis that it contradicts the Supreme Court’s direction in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India and others, which had called for the inclusion of the CJI in the appointment process for Election Commissioners.
The 2023 Act establishes a selection committee consisting of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to make appointments to the Election Commission.
In 2024, a Bench led by then-CJI Sanjiv Khanna with Justice Dipankar Datta declined to stay the Act and also chose not to intervene in the appointments of two Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar made under the same law.
Case Title: Dr. Jaya Thakur and others vs Union of India and others.
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