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The Supreme Court has adjourned the pleas against the appointments of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (EC) under the 2023 law.
According to PTI, A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh indicated that the matter would be listed after the Holi festival break due to paucity of time.
However, no date was fixed for hearing the matter.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, said it was an important issue which required an urgent consideration.
He said the matter involved a short legal question — whether the 2023 Constitution bench verdict should be followed for the appointment of the CEC and ECs through a panel involving the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India or the 2023 law, which excludes the CJI from the panel.
At around 3 pm, Justice Surya Kant told Bhushan that he would be sitting in a special bench and the court had numerous matters listed before the Holi break.
As per PTI report, Bhushan requested the matter to be listed on any day in the coming week and assured the petitioners would not take more than an hour to advance submissions.
Advocate Varun Thakur, appearing for petitioner Jaya Thakur, also mentioned the matter for an urgent hearing saying it was ‘very important for the survival of democracy’.
Justice Surya Kant said, for the court, all matters were equally important and no single matter was superior to others.
Earlier, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, expressed his inability to address the court on the issue saying he was appearing before the Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna on the issue of arbitration.
On February 18, the top court said it would take up on ‘priority basis’ the pleas against the appointments of the CEC and ECs under the 2023 law.
