SC adjourns till July 24 on Chawla's removal case

New Delhi, May 10: The Supreme Court today adjourned till July 24, the hearing of petition filed by former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, seeking removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.

A Bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhan and Justice Dalveer Bhandari directed the parties to file a written submission within a week.

Mr Singh and Chairman of Joint Parliamentary Committee on office of profit, Chandrabhushan Singh, are seeking directions to the President to refer the representation, made by 205 NDA MPs in August 2005, against Mr Chawla to the Chief Election Commissioner for his recommendation as per the mandate of Article 324(5) of the Indian Constitution.

The Centre, supporting Mr Chawla, has contented that the President could not bypass the Union Council of Ministers and refer representation directly to the CEC.

''It must be rooted through the executive government which will decide whether the complaint is worth to be refferd to the President,'' it said.

Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam also argued that the suitability of an Election Commissioner could not be the basis of challenging his appointment.

UNI

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