NEW DELHI, Nov 24: The Supreme Court today questioned the “haste” and “tearing hurry” in appointing Arun Goel as Election Commissioner.
The Centre vehemently resisted the observations, with Attorney General R Venkataramani saying the whole issue pertaining to the appointment of Goel be looked into its entirety.
At the outset, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph perused the Centre’s original file pertaining to Goel’s appointment as EC, and said, “What kind of evaluation is this? Although, we are not questioning the merits of Arun Goel’s credentials but the process.”
As the bench questioned the “lightning speed” with which Goel was appointed as an EC and also that his file did not even move within departments for 24 hours, the Centre through Venkataramani vehemently urged the bench not to make observations without looking into the entire issue pertaining to the appointment process.
During the hearing, lawyer Prashant Bhushan attempted to make submissions before the bench when the attorney general was arguing.
“Please hold your mouth for a while,” the top-most law officer told Bhushan.
The top court reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the Chief Election Commissioner and asked the parties to file written submission in five days.(PTI)
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