THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Oct 14: The Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging the exclusion of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the committee responsible for appointing election commissioners on November 11.
Under the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, the CJI was removed from the panel responsible for appointing election commissioners. Several petitions on this issue had been listed before a bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, but due to lack of time, the hearing could not take place.
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After CEC Rajiv Kumar retired, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the matter prior to the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and had initially postponed it to February 12. However, it was not listed on that date and was then deferred to February 19. Meanwhile, on February 17, Gyanesh Kumar was promoted as CEC.
Following his appointment, petitioners urged the Court to give priority hearing, arguing that the appointments of commissioners violated the Supreme Court’s earlier verdict in the Anup Baranwal case. Despite repeated requests, the hearing had been delayed for various reasons.
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Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, informed the Court that the case had been repeatedly listed but the hearing had not commenced. He requested the Court to allocate 3-4 hours per day for the matter, stating that petitioners would need around 2 hours to complete their arguments.
Following his request, Justice Surya Kant agreed to hear the matter on November 11.
