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The State of Goa v. Fouziya Imtiaz Shaikh

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 179Decided 12 Mar 2021
Civil Appeal No. 881 of 2021
Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice Hrishikesh Roy

Background

Elections to 11 Municipal Councils in Goa, due in late 2020, were repeatedly postponed because of COVID-19, and the Governor appointed the State's own Law Secretary as State Election Commissioner in addition to his regular duties. The State then amended the Goa Municipalities Act to shorten the mandatory notice period for ward-reservation orders and issued a reservation order on 4 February 2021 that was challenged before the Bombay High Court (Goa Bench) for failing to properly reserve one-third of seats for women and for shortfalls in OBC reservation. While the writ petitions were pending, the State Election Commissioner issued an election notification at 9:00 a.m. on the very morning the High Court was due to hear the case, in what the High Court (and later the Supreme Court) viewed as an attempt to pre-empt judicial scrutiny. The Division Bench of the High Court quashed the reservation order and set a fresh election timeline, prompting the State and others to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed with the High Court's findings that the reservation order violated the constitutionally mandated one-third reservation for women under Article 243T and the statutory OBC reservation requirement, and declined to interfere with the High Court's judgment, modifying only the compliance deadline from 15 April to 30 April 2021. Separately, and more significantly, the Court held that appointing the Law Secretary, a government official under the State's direct control, as State Election Commissioner violated Article 243K, which guarantees the independence of this constitutional office (its holder enjoys protections akin to a High Court judge against removal). Invoking Article 142, the Court issued a nationwide direction that no serving government officer, Central or State, can hold the office of State Election Commissioner anywhere in India, and that any such person currently holding the post must step down, with the affected state governments required to appoint genuinely independent persons instead.

Lesson Learnt

Constitutional offices meant to be independent watchdogs, like the State Election Commissioner who oversees local body elections, cannot be filled by handing additional charge to a sitting government official, because that undermines the very independence the Constitution guarantees; this principle was made binding across all Indian states, not just Goa.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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