Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Wednesday said that he will examine the application which has been filed seeking the recall of the split verdict in the CEC Act case.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan mentioned the application before the CJI. He clarified that it was an interlocutory application filed seeking recall of the September 23 verdict passed by a bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma in the petitions challenging the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
He further informed the bench that another party has filed a curative petition against the split verdict.CJI Surya Kant agreed to consider the matter. “We will examine and then take a call,” CJI said.
The CJI also said that he had read that a curative petition has also been filed. Sankaranarayanan answered in the affirmative, and said it has been filed by another party. “But curative is to be preceded by a review,” the senior counsel stated, adding that his matter was an IA(Interlocutory Application).
The application has been understood to be filed on the ground that there was a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, who was part of the bench, since his son is a standing counsel for the Election Commission of India.
On September 23, a bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SC Sharma expressed divergent views on whether the petitions challenging the CEC law must be referred to larger bench. While Justice Datta said that reference was unnecessary, Justice Sharma opined otherwise. However, the bench ultimately referred the matter to a 5-judge bench and placed the matter before the CJI.
After the verdict was delivered, LiveLaw reported that Justice Sharma’s son is the standing counsel for the ECI in the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Courtesy: Live Law
