The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that individuals holding government offices should not be given additional charge of the state election commissioner, Bar and Bench reported. The court said that such an action amounted to “mockery of Constitution”.
A three-judge bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, BR Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy, was hearing a case related to the Goa government’s decision to give the additional charge of the state election commissioner to its law secretary, according to Live Law.
Certain notifications to municipality elections in Goa were initially challenged in the Bombay High Court on the grounds that reservation of wards for women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was not done in accordance with the Goa Municipalities Act of the Constitution, Live Law reported.
The Bombay High Court struck down the reservation notices of some specific wards, holding that they caused constitutional infractions. The Goa government then approached the Supreme Court, challenging this order.
However, on Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court’s decision and said that the appointment of the law secretary as the poll body chief sacrificed the independence of the election, Live Law reported.
“The independence of election commission cannot be compromised in a democracy,” Nariman said, according to NDTV. “Entrusting additional charge of state election commissioner to a government official in power is a mockery of the constitution.”
The court directed the state government to notify reservations for the municipalities of Mormugao, Margao, Mapusa, Quepem and Sanguem within the next 10 days. It also directed the state election commission to complete the election process by April 30, The Indian Express reported.
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