NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to listen to one other petition difficult the validity of Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act as per which appointments to the ballot panel are to be determined by a committee comprising PM, a Union cupboard minister and the chief of opposition, however refused to remain operation of the law.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued discover to Centre on a petition filed by Association for Democratic Reforms and tagged it with different petitions difficult the regulation and listed the matter for April.
Earlier, SC had issued discover on a petition filed by Congress activist Jaya Thakur who claimed that Sections 7 and eight had been violative of the precept of free and honest elections as they didn’t present an “independent mechanism” for appointment of members of Election Commission. It contended that the regulation was enacted to override SC’s March 2022 verdict which had entrusted the duty to a panel of PM, LoP and CJI, taking away Centre’s energy to unilaterally appoint them which had been in apply since independence.
In a significant resolution to insulate EC from govt’s interference, a five-judge structure bench had on March 2 in an unanimous verdict disapproved the system of Centre appointing members of the ballot panel and had dominated that choice of CEC and ECs was be completed by a three-member committee of the PM, LoP and CJI.