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SC issues notice to govt, EC on blanket immunity to CEC
In Short
The plea challenges section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
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SC issues notice to govt, EC on blanket immunity to CEC
New Delhi: TheSupreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a fresh plea challenging “blanket immunity” granted to Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners for decisions taken while in office.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana sought their responses on the petition filed by lawyer and activist Arun Kumar Agrawal. The top court is already seized of a petition against the provision by NGO Lok Prahari. Hearing the NGO’s plea in January, the court had issued notices but refused to stay the provision. The provision says that “notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, no Court shall entertain or continue any civil or criminal proceedings against any person who is or was a Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner for any act, thing or word, committed, done or spoken by him when, or in the course of acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty or function”.
The plea challenges section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
In his plea, Agrawal said that similar protection extended to other constitutional functionaries is only for acts done or intended to be done in good faith, but the CEC and ECs have been granted blanket immunity without any exception which is unconstitutional, disproportionate, and, hence, liable to be struck down. “The objective of protecting Election Commissioners from vexatious proceedings can be achieved through less restrictive measures, such as safeguards against frivolous complaints and prior judicial scrutiny. Granting blanket immunity is therefore excessive and goes beyond what is necessary to protect the independence of the Election Commission,” the plea said.
Such immunity, it argued, takes away every civil and criminal remedy against the CEC and ECs for their acts. “A voter whose name is wrongly deleted from the electoral roll, a candidate prejudiced by a mala fide act, and any citizen aggrieved by corruption in the functioning of the Commission are left without a remedy.”
The petition contended that “despite the absence of such blanket immunity, the Election Commission of India has successfully conducted elections over several decades. This shows that the Commission can function effectively without granting its members blanket immunity from legal proceedings”.
