The Supreme Court of India has been approached by ADR challenging the appointment Of Arun Goel As Election Commissioner.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed on the Apex challenging the ground on which the appointment was done.
As per the PIL the appointment is arbitrary and violative of institutional integrity and independence of Election Commission Of India and hence in violation of Article 14 and Article 324(2) of the Constitution of India read with Section 4 of Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had filed the PIL highlighting that the petitioner had earlier challenged the constitutional validity of the practice of appointing the members to the Election Commission by executive as being violative of Articles 14, 324 (2) and basic features of the Constitution.
The petitioner in his plea has requested for a neutral and independent committee for the appointment of members of the Election Commission. However, before the hearings started, Arun Goel came to be appointed as Election Commissioner.
The appointment of Goel was substantiated by the Union Government as he was youngest of the four people on the panel prepared, he would have the longest tenure in the ECI.
The petition states that a deficient panel was deliberately created for justifying the appointment of Goel on the ground of age.
The plea said that the batch of 1985 had 160 officers of which some were younger than Goel. However, without any explanation as to why the officers who were younger in age than Goel and could have completed tenure of six years as mandated by Section 4 of the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991 were not empaneled, the Government appointed Goel.
The petition says that the that the Government has carefully orchestrated ‘selection procedure’ for their own benefits as Mr. Goel is has perception of a ‘yes man’.”
Accordingly, the PIL has sought to quash the appointment of Goel as the Election Commissioner of India.