PIL against appointment of Arun Goel as EC: Justice KM Joseph recuses himself from hearing

New Delhi, April 17

Justice KM Joseph of the Supreme Court on Monday recused himself from hearing a PIL challenging the appointment of Arun Goel as an Election Commissioner.

Justice Joseph headed a Constitution Bench which had on March 2 ordered creation of a three-member panel consisting of the Prime Minister Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha or leader of largest opposition party and the Chief Justice of India to recommend names for appointment of CEC and ECs by the President.

“List this matter before a Bench of which one of us (Justice KM Joseph) is not a member.” said the Bench which also included Justice BV Nagarathna.

Now the CJI is expected to assign it to another Bench.

During the hearing, the top court questioned petitioner ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ for challenging Goel’s appointment and sought to know which rules were violated.

After the appointment of a person to a constitutional post, presumptions cannot be made that he will act unfairly, arbitrarily or will be “yes man”. the Bench said.

Weeks after the Supreme Court questioned the “tearing hurry” and the “lightning speed” with which the Centre appointed Goel as an Election Commissioner, Association for Democratic Reforms challenged his appointment, terming it as arbitrary; and violative of institutional integrity and independence of the poll panel.

A Punjab-cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch, Goel was appointed as an Election Commissioner on November 19, 2022. The top court had said it was mystified how Goel applied for voluntary retirement on November 18, 2022 if he was not aware about the proposal to appoint him as an Election Commissioner.

On Monday, advocate Prashant Bhushan told the Bench on behalf of ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ that the appointment process of Goel was mala fide and arbitrary and four officers were selected out of a pool of 160 across the country and many of them were younger to Goel. The selection process adopted by the government was questionable, he said.

While recusing from hearing, the Bench questioned the petitioner for challenging Goel’s appointment as it asked the NGO to show which rules were violated. After the appointment of a person to a constitutional post, presumptions cannot be made that he will act unfairly, arbitrarily or will be “yes man”, it told Bhushan.

Ending the more than seven-decade-old practice of the Government appointing the Chief  Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, the

In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice Joseph had ruled that the new system created by it shall remain in force until a law in this regard was made by Parliament.

“The Election Commission has to be independent, it cannot claim to be independent then act in an unfair manner. A person in a state of obligation to the State cannot have an independent frame of mind. An independent person will not be servile to those in power,” the Constitution Bench had said.

The petitioner NGO wanted the top court to quash Goel’s appointment and constitute a “neutral and independent committee” for the appointment of members of the Election Commission.

The Union government and the EC have through their acts of “omissions and commission” participated in a carefully orchestrated “selection procedure” for their own benefits, it alleged.