The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the appointments of two Election Commissioners namely Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu saying that ‘we do not stay legislations by way of interim orders.’
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih made it clear that the Centre’s Narendra Modi government will have to answer questions raised in the plea regarding the exclusion of Chief Justice of India in the appointments of the Election Commissioners.
The Centre recently appointed two IAS officers, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, under a new law which excluded the CJI. Under the new law passed by the Modi government, the appointment panel now includes the prime minister, a cabinet minister from his government and the Leader of the Opposition.
Kumar, who recently retired, served as secretary of the cooperation ministry, while Sandhu was former Chief Secretary in the Uttarakhand government. He retired on 31 January this year.
The petitioners have argued that the new law enacted by the Modi government was in contravention of an earlier Supreme Court order, which called for the inclusion of the CJI in the appointment process.
The Lok Sabha elections are due in India. The top poll body has been in news after its election commissioner, Arun Goel, stunned everyone by stepping down from his post. Many believed that he had resigned following serious differences with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.