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Apex court to go into transfer powers of Election Commission

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will examine whether the Election Commission has the power to transfer officials from the date of announcement of the Assembly poll in a State or from the date of election schedule notification.

A three-judge Bench posted to July 15 a special leave petition filed by the Commission assailing a Madras High Court judgment, after senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for it, submitted on Monday that this matter required examination as larger issues were involved.

Acting on a Tamil Nadu government petition, the High Court held that the Commission’s direction to transfer the former Chennai Police Commissioner R. Nataraj soon after the 2006 Assembly poll announcement was not binding on the government.

Mr. Nariman said though the issue had become infructuous, the judgment “still holds good.”

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and L.S. Panta, agreed to the plea by counsel for the Tamil Nadu government V.G. Pragasam, who sought four weeks for filing a reply. By its March 13, 2006 letter, the Commission asked the government to shift Mr. Nataraj taking a serious view of his newspaper interview, in which he said “[the then] Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is the perfect example of the ideal woman. I think she is an icon and every woman should look up to her.”

The High Court, on March 31, 2006, held that the Commission had the power to transfer officials only after the poll schedule was notified. The Commission, in its SPL, said the High Court failed to appreciate the fact that following the announcement of elections and till the actual issuance of the statutory notification, it was required to initiate several steps — including assessing the ground situation on availability of infrastructure and posting of officials, all of whom would play a vital role in ensuring free and fair elections.

For initiating these steps, the Election Commission could not be expected to wait till after the actual notification. If the High Court’s interpretation was accepted, difficulties would arise in the smooth conduct of elections particularly during the period following the announcement of the polls and before the issuance of the notification.

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