Centre’s Bill Drops Chief Justice From Poll Officers’ Selection Process

New Delhi:

In a move likely to trigger a fresh face-off between the Executive and the Judiciary, the Centre is set to push a legislation that will exclude the Chief Justice of India from the process to appoint the country’s top election officers.

The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Services and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, about to be introduced in Rajya Sabha today, proposes that the polling officers shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister will chair the panel, it says.

The Bill, in effect, aims to dilute the Supreme Court’s March 2023 judgment in which a Constitution bench held that the appointment of Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners shall be done by the President on the advice of a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.

The judgment, however, mentioned that this arrangement would continue till Parliament came out with a law.

The Bill states that the search committee will comprise the Cabinet Secretary and two other secretaries of the centre. This committee will prepare a panel of five names for the consideration of the selection committee headed by the Prime Minister. The Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, it states, will be appointed from among the persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of a secretary in the Government of India. 

Interestingly, Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, amended after a similar Supreme Court ruling in 2014, had retained the Chief Justice of India in the selection committee for the appointment of CBI director as ruled by the Supreme Court.  

The fresh Bill sets the stage for another confrontation between the Supreme Court and the Centre.

From judges’ appointments to controversial laws such as Delhi services Act, the centre and the Supreme Court have been locked in a tussle over several issues.

The Executive and the Supreme Court have also differed in their positions on issues such as the basic structure doctrine – simply put, it means the Constitution has a basic structure that cannot be changed by Parliament.