The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission (EC) to make it clear whether the poll panel can suo motu recommend the removal of an election commissioner following a representation against him.
The apex court was responding to a plea by BJP leader in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Chandra Bhushan Singh that election commissioner Navin Chawla should be removed from the position for his ?inability to discharge his duties impartially?.
The court asked the EC to file an affidavit stating whether ?the chief election commissioner (CEC) believes that it does have the power in a given circumstance if a representation was directly made to him to recommend the removal of Election Commissioner?.
?If this stand of the Commission becomes clear, the matter will come to an end and we will dispose of the petitions,? a Bench of the court comprising of Justices Ashok Bhan and VS Sirpurkar said. However, the court has also allowed additional solicitor general Gopal Subramanium to seek the government?s instructions on the issue.
?The matter cannot be disposed off. My concern is that CEC is intended to be a safety valve in purpose of removal (of EC) in extreme cases only,? the government counsel said in the court.
?The petitions only speak about Chawla before he became the election commissioner and there was no allegation against him after he assumed the office,? he added.
?People can ask why he (Chawla) has been appointed,? the Bench said. ?The EC has to be insulated as it is a institution in which CEC has been given a status of a judge,? it said.