Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal defends bill to appoint CEC, ECs

New Delhi: Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday defended the bill to appoint chief election commissioner and election commissioners, saying the present law was silent on the method to appoint members of the poll panel and there was no selection committee for the purpose hence the question of keeping out the Chief Justice of India from it does not arise.

Talking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, he said, the Supreme Court (in March) issued an order saying Parliament should frame a law in this regard.

"We have now come up with a bill in this regard based on the SC ruling. The SC had said that till a law is framed, the (selection) committee proposed by it will hold good," he said.

The committee would comprise the prime minister, the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and the CJI, the constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph had said.

Justice Joseph has since retired.

Meghwal said since 1952, the CEC and the ECs are being appointed by the government.

"Even Congress (when in power) made the appointments. Then in 1991, a law was framed. It dealt with service, allowances and tenure. But it was silent on the issue of the method of appointments.

"The Supreme Court said the issue of appointment procedure is pending. In the new bill, a search committee to be headed by the cabinet secretary has been proposed. It will shortlist five names. Then there will be a selection committee headed by the prime minister. What is wrong with it," he asked.

Responding to questions on the government keeping the CJI out of the selection committee, Meghwal said, "He was in which committee, who was in the committee, tell me." The government on Thursday tabled a contentious bill in Rajya Sabha that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a cabinet minister in the panel for selection of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, in a move that will allow the government to have more control in the appointments of members of the poll panel.

The bill came months after the Supreme Court in March ruled that a three-member panel, headed by the prime minister and comprising the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India, will select the CEC and ECs till a law is framed by Parliament on the appointment of these commissioners.