New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine a plea seeking recall of its September 23 split verdict on whether challenges to the 2023 law governing the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners should be heard by a larger bench.
A two-judge bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma gave divergent views on whether such a reference was necessary. Justice Datta held that the matter did not warrant a reference to a larger bench, while Justice Sharma favoured consideration by a five-judge Constitution Bench. It is against the backdrop of this split verdict that the recall application was mentioned before CJI Surya Kant on Wednesday.
Sankaranarayanan clarified that the application was an interlocutory application (IA) seeking recall of the September 23 verdict passed by Justices Datta and Sharma. It may be noted that an IA is a formal application filed during the pendency of a case seeking a specific order or direction from the court. The recall application has been filed citing a reasonable apprehension of bias involving Justice Sharma.
Sankaranarayanan also informed the bench that another party had filed a curative petition against the split verdict. “A curative petition has been filed. That, I think, will have to go in its own form. Whether it is maintainable, I don’t know. Ours is an IA seeking recall of the judgment. Curative often requires a review,” he said. The recall application had earlier been mentioned before Justice Datta’s bench, but the matter was subsequently released and Sankaranarayanan was asked to mention it before the CJI.
The law replaced the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister on the panel for selecting the CEC and ECs. The selection committee under the law comprises the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister. The exclusion of the CJI from the panel is at the heart of the constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court.
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