The petition alleged that the government and Goel carefully orchestrated a ‘selection procedure’ for their own benefit. The Bench noted that a Constitution Bench had examined the files pertaining to Goel’s appointment and refused to quash his appointment.
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ON Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to quash the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel.
A Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti was hearing a petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The Bench noted that a Constitution Bench had examined the files pertaining to Goel’s appointment and refused to quash his appointment.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for the petitioner, sought to submit that perhaps the Constitution Bench did not quash the appointment of Goel because he was not a party to the proceedings before it.
On April 17, Supreme Court judge Justice K.M. Joseph had recused himself from hearing a petition challenging the appointment of Goel as an election commissioner.
The Constitution Bench, which had summoned the records of the appointment of Goel, had, after going through them, observed that it was a little mystifying as to how the officer had applied for voluntary retirement on November 18, 2022 if he was not in the know about the proposal to appoint him.
On March 2, a Constitution Bench comprising Justices K.M. Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C.T. Ravikumar, had held that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and election commissioners would be on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha.
In its judgment, the Bench had also made scathing comments on the hurried appointment of Goel as election commissioner.
It had observed that though Goel was younger than the others who had been empanelled, he still would not have a complete tenure of six years as is mandated by Section 4 (term of office) of the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991.
The court had held that a tenure shorter than six years would impinge on the independence of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Heavily relying upon the judgment of the Constitution Bench making scathing observations against the appointment of Goel, the ADR moved a petition seeking to quash his appointment.
The petition alleged that the government and Goel carefully orchestrated a ‘selection procedure’ for their own benefit.
Goel was hurriedly appointed within 24 hours of his voluntary retirement as election commissioner on November 19 last year while a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing a petition to lay down the procedure for the appointment of election commissioners by a neutral independent committee.
Interestingly, the vacancy which came to be filled by Goel had been created on May 15, 2022. Goel was due to retire from the Indian Administrative Service on December 31, 2022, but he requested voluntary retirement on personal grounds on November 18, 2022, and it was approved on the very same day.
