SC asks Centre to produce file related to appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel
New Delhi(PTI): The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to produce before it the file related to the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was appointed on November 19.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph said it wants to know whether there was any "hanky panky" in Goel's appointment as election commissioner as he was only recently given voluntary retirement from service.
The bench rejected the objections of Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani on the court willing to see the file related to Goel's appointment while the hearing is on.
Venkataramani told the bench, also comprising justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar, that it is dealing with the larger issue of appointment of ECs and the chief election commissioner (CEC) and it cannot look at an individual case flagged by advocate Prashant Bhushan.
"I take serious objection to this and have my reservation to the court seeing the file amidst the hearing of a Constitution bench," he said.
The bench said it started hearing a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the CEC last Thursday and Goel was appointed as an EC subsequently on November 19. Therefore, it wants to see what prompted the step.
"We want to see what is the mechanism. We will not treat it as an adversarial and keep it for our record, but we want to know as you claim that everything is hunky dory. Since we were hearing the matter and appointment was made amidst, this may be interlinked. You have time till tomorrow. Produce the documents," it told the AG.
At the outset, Bhushan, who appeared on behalf of petitioner Anoop Baranwal and made his rejoinder submission, said after the court started hearing the mater, the government hurriedly appointed an election commissioner.
"This election commissioner was, till Thursday, working as a secretary-level officer in the government. Suddenly, he was given VRS on Friday and appointed as an election commissioner," Bhushan said. Justice Joseph said as far he recalls, it takes three months for a person to get voluntary retirement.
On November 19, Goel, a 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Punjab cadre, was appointed as an election commissioner. He was to retire on December 31 on attaining the age of 60 years.
Once he assumes his new role, Goel would be in line to be the next CEC after incumbent Rajiv Kumar demits office in February 2025. He will join Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey on the poll panel.
There was a vacancy in the Election Commission (EC) following the retirement of previous CEC Sushil Chandra in May. Goel was the secretary in the Ministry of Heavy Industries till recently and his voluntary retirement came into effect on November 18. He has also served in the Union culture ministry.
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Comedian Shyam Rangeela files nomination from Varanasi LS seat on last day
Varanasi: Comedian Shyam Rangeela has finally filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency on Tuesday, May 14, the last day of filing papers.
Rangeela, who intended to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged on Monday that he was being denied a nomination from the seat, as he along with several other candidates were reportedly made to wait for filling papers on May 10th and May 13th.
Shyam Rangeela, taking to his official ‘X’ handle, wrote, "With your love and support, I have completed all the requirements as per the rules and submitted the nomination. I also have full faith in the democracy of this country. Now the next two-three days are crucial. Thank you all very much for your cooperation. My electoral future rests in the hands of all election officials who are the custodians of our democracy. With the hope that they all strengthen our faith, Yours Shyam Rangeela.”
Alongside, Shyam, BJP candidate Narendra Modi, Log Party's Vinay Kumar Tripathi, BJP's Surendra Narayan Singh, independent candidates Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Reena Rai, Neha Jaiswal, Ajit Kumar Jaiswal, Ashok Kumar Pandey, Sandeep Tripathi filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.
According to the Election Commision of India, a total of 41 candidates have filed nomination papers from the Varanasi constituency.
आप सभी के प्यार और सहयोग से नियमानुसार सभी आवश्यकताओं की पूर्ति करते हुए मैंने नामांकन दाखिल कर दिया है, मेरा इस देश के लोकतंत्र पर अभी भी पुरा भरोसा है । अब आगे के दो तीन दिन महत्वपूर्ण होंगे।
— Shyam Rangeela (@ShyamRangeela) May 14, 2024
आप सभी का सहयोग के लिए बहुत धन्यवाद ।
हमारे लोकतंत्र के पहरी सभी चुनाव अधिकारीयों के… pic.twitter.com/JyIoFGDNli
