IN A significant development, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave split opinions on whether a batch of pleas challenging the validity of a 2023 law that excludes the Chief Justice of India from the panel for selecting the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) should be referred to a larger Constitution bench. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, which heard the pleas for five days, said that due to a difference of opinion, the matters be placed before CJI Surya Kant on the administrative side for constitution of a bench of appropriate strength for an effective and authoritative adjudication. The bench also requested the CJI to explore the possibility of setting up a permanent fivejudge Constitution bench for deciding seminal issues.

 

The batch of pleas challenged the constitutional validity of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, which excludes the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection panel for appointing election commissioners and Chief Election Commissioners. On March 2, 2023, in a landmark verdict aimed at insulating the appointment of the CEC and ECs from the executive’s interference, a five-judge Constitutionbench ruled that their appointments will be made by the president on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the CJI.