“Hold Your Mouth”: Centre’s Lawyer Slams Advocate Prashant Bhushan For Interrupting

The Supreme Court today questioned the “haste” and “tearing hurry” in appointing Arun Goel as Election Commissioner.

The Centre vehemently resisted the observations, with Attorney General R Venkataramani saying the whole issue pertaining to the appointment of Goel be looked into its entirety.

At the outset, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph perused the Centre’s original file pertaining to Arun Goel’s appointment as Election Commissioner, and said, “What kind of evaluation is this? Although, we are not questioning the merits of Arun Goel’s credentials but the process.”

As the bench questioned the “lightning speed” with which Mr Goel was appointed as an Election Commissioner and also that his file did not even move within departments for 24 hours, the Centre through Attorney General Venkataramani vehemently urged the bench not to make observations without looking into the entire issue pertaining to the appointment process.

During the hearing, lawyer Prashant Bhushan attempted to make submissions before the bench while the Attorney General was speaking. “Please hold your mouth for a while,” the top-most law officer told Mr Bhushan.

The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the Chief Election Commissioner and asked the parties to file written submission in five days.

Justice Ajay Rastogi, who is also a part of the bench, told Mr Venkataramani, “You have to listen to the court carefully and answer the questions. We are not on individual candidates but on the process.”