‘Need for an election commissioner who cannot be crushed’… know why SC mentioned TN Seshan

Supreme Court on TN Session: A 5-judge constitutional bench headed by Justice KM Joseph on Tuesday heard petitions recommending reforms in the process of appointment of members of the Election Commission. During the hearing, the court said that the Chief Election Commissioner should be of such a character that he does not allow bulldozers to run on him. During this, the Constitution Bench also mentioned former Chief Election Commissioner late TN Seshan. The bench said that sometimes a person like TN Seshan happens.

Hearing petitions seeking reform in the system of appointment of Election Commissioners, a five-judge Constitution bench comprising Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar observed that the Constitution has protected the “fragile” functions of the CEC and the Election Commissioner. Enormous powers have been placed on his shoulders.

Justice Joseph said, “Apart from merit, what is important is that you need someone with character, someone who doesn’t let himself be bulldozed…the question then is whether this person should be appointed.” Who will do it? The presence of the Chief Justice in the appointment committee will be the least intrusive arrangement. We think his presence will send a message that there will be no glitches. We want the best man and there should be no difference of opinion .”

‘There have been many CECs, but…’

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“There have been many CECs, but TN sessions are rare,” the bench said. TN Seshan, a former cabinet secretary, was appointed to the poll panel for the tenure of 12 December 1990 to 11 December 1996. He died on 10 November 2019.

SC’s big comment on CEC’s tenure

The SC noted that though the term of the CEC is six years under the ‘Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Conditions of Service) Act, 1991’, no CEC has completed its term since 2004. The bench said, “What the government is doing is, because it knows that the date of birth, it ensures that whoever is appointed as the CEC, has not got his full six years… whether it is the UPA ( Be it the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance) government or this government, this has been a trend.”

The court noted that Article 324 of the Constitution, relating to the appointment of election commissioners, envisaged enactment of a law to provide the procedure for such appointments, but the government has not done so so far. However, Attorney General of India R. Venkataramani said that “there is no vacancy in the Constitution” on the issue. At present, election commissioners are appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers. He said that the court should look at the issue from this point of view.

read this also- ‘All the governments have ended the independence of the Election Commission’ – Supreme Court’s big comment on the tenure of the CEC