Supreme Court of India: The file pertaining to the appointment of Election Commissioner Arun Goel, who was appointed on November 19, was requested by the Supreme Court on Wednesday from the Center.
As Goel had only recently been granted a voluntary retirement from service, a five-judge Constitutional bench led by Justice K M Joseph said it was interested in learning whether there had been any “hanky panky” in the nomination of Goel as election commissioner.
The attorney general’s objections to the court’s willingness to view the file pertaining to Goel’s appointment while the hearing was ongoing were overruled by the bench.
The court cannot consider a particular case raised by attorney Prashant Bhushan because Venkataramani claimed that the court is dealing with the larger issue of the appointment of ECs and the chief election commissioner (CEC).
“I take serious objection to this and have my reservation to the court seeing the file amidst the hearing of a Constitution bench,” he said.
The bench stated that it began hearing the case last Thursday and that Goel’s appointment took effect on November 19 as a result. As a result, the panel wants to know what caused the action.
