2023 CEC verdict sought only to fill a vacuum: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the judgment requiring the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to be part of the selection process of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners cannot apply to the law enacted by the Parliament as the court verdict was only meant to fill a legal vacuum.

- Abraham Thomas

Setting out to hear a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of the CEC and other ECs (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, the court noted that the selection committee under the Act comprises the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Cabinet Minister. The petitioners argued that the law altered the requirement under the 2023 judgment by a five-judge bench in Anoop Baranwal case which included CJI as part of the high level selection committee. The law, however, replaced CJI with a Union Cabinet minister. The petitions alleged that the judgment ensured independence in the selection process while the law gave the executive a major say in the appointment to a vital post.

To be sure, the judgment came before the law, a point the court noted.

The bench of justices Dipankar Datta and SC Sharma said, “The 2023 judgment, on its bare reading, deals with a situation where it seeks to fill a vacuum. Can we extend it beyond a point when the judgment restricts itself to the point till when the Parliament makes a law?”