New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the petitions challenging the new law related to the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners on 14 May. The decision to prioritize the appointment process of an independent and constitutional institution like Election Commission or enact a new law will be extremely important. These petitions demanded immediate hearing, but the Supreme Court has now fixed the date for the next month.
What is the main point of the petition?
These petitions have raised the question whether the Chief Election Commissioner should be selected by the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice membership as per the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench’s decision or the new law passed in 2023 should be considered appropriate, which has not been included in the Chief Justice. There is a detailed debate on this issue across the country, the petitioners claim that preventing the judiciary from participating in it can be dangerous for democracy.
What is the reason for postponing hearing?
The bench clarified that the hearing of some extremely important cases like land acquisition was already scheduled on the same day. Therefore, this sensitive petition will now be considered on 14 May.
Legal and political importance of case
These petitions have raised the question whether the new law made by the government reduces transparency and fairness in the selection of Election Commissioners, and whether this law cancels the previous decision of the Supreme Court. This case is not only limited to law, but is also related to power balance and autonomy of constitutional institutions in democracy. Therefore, everyone’s attention is on the hearing to be held on May 14.
Brief observation of case
On 19 March 2024, the Supreme Court fixed April 16 for hearing the petitions. However, it has now been postponed till 14 May. These petitions were filed by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and a debate was made by famous lawyer Prashant Bhushan in the court. According to him, it is necessary to implement the Supreme Court’s decision before 2023, as the participation of the Chief Justice in it is an important step towards transparency and fairness.
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