I sent the following letter to The Hindu on Feb.9,2009 in response to Justice S.Mohan's article,Chief Election Commissioner: equal or superior,(Feb.9). It was not published. There were no letters on the article.
Sir,
The question whether the CEC is equal or superior to the ECs has been complicated unnecessarily. "Chief Election Commissioner: equal or superior" (Feb.9) is a case in point. Article 324(5) states clearly that the CEC can initiate a proposal to remove an EC and never the other way. To that extent the CEC is superior to the ECs, if it can be called superiority; but it goes no further.
The CEC has suo motu powers only to make a proposal to remove an EC, not to actually remove an EC. Though such a proposal is a prerequisite, the decision to remove rests entirely with the President of India. Unlike as in the case of Parliament bills submitted for approval, the President is not under any constitutional obligation to accept CEC's proposal. The whole confusion was created when the BJP claimed that such a proposal would be ‘binding’ on the President. Where is such a clause in Article 324(5)?
P.P.Sudhakaran
Bangalore
