NEW DELHI: Noting that Arun Goel was appointed election commissioner (EC) just days after Constituition bench began hearing the case on a batch of pleas seeking a “fair and transparent” mechanism for appointment of the CEC’s and AC’s, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the centre to bring its perusal the file pertaining to its appointment.
The top court, while seeking the original file of Election Commissioner Arun Goel’s appointment, said, “the file was cleared in “haste” and with “tearing hurry”’’. The top court bench said, “1985-batch IAS officer Arun Goel got voluntary retirement from service in a single day, his file was cleared by the Law Ministry in a single day, a panel of four names were put up before the Prime Minister and Goel’s name got the nod from the President within 24 hours.”
“What kind of evaluation is this? We are not questioning the merits of Arun Goel’s credentials, but the process,” a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph said.
Appearing on behalf of the Centre, Attorney General R Ventakaramani asked the Supreme Court to “hold its mouth” and urged it to look into the matter ”in its entirety.” The top-most law officer told the bench, which was making a volley of comments on the issue, “Please hold your mouth for a while. I request to look into the issue in its entirety”.
It may be noted that the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that people manning the Election Commission of India should not be “yes man” of the government but “independents who can act independently” even if it comes to taking on the Prime Minister.
