Challenge to Andhra Pradesh SEC reinstatement: "Unfortunate that Governor has to intervene for implementation of HC order", Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today pulled up the Andhra Pradesh government for failing to comply with the High Court's order to reinstate State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dr N Ramesh Kumar..The Court granted Ramesh a week's time to file an affidavit after he sought to place additional facts pertaining to pending contempt proceedings before the High Court..The Bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian today took up the petitions challenging the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court to quash an Ordinance which reduced the tenure of the SEC from five to three years. .Today, Senior Counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Kumar, apprised the Court of certain developments with respect to the case. He stated that the order of the High Court directing the reinstatement of Ramesh Kumar as SEC has not been complied with..An application filed in this regard by Ramesh points out that he had filed a contempt plea before the High Court against the state government for failing to reinstate him as SEC. The High Court, on July 17, granted liberty to Ramesh to take recourse to approach the Governor for implementation of its order..An application seeking a stay on the contempt proceedings was then filed before the Supreme Court by the State of Andhra Pradesh. .In the meantime, Ramesh made a representation to the Governor. Subsequently, the Governor issued a letter dated July 21 directing the state government to take necessary actions to ensure that the High Court's order is implemented. .CJI Bobde observed today that it was unfortunate that the Governor had to intervene in the matter in order to ensure that the decision of the High Court was implemented.."...Governor had to intervene to appoint Ramesh Kumar as SEC after High Court's judgment...There are contempt proceedings (against the state government). What is this?"CJI SA Bobde.Senior Advocate SK Ganguly, appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh, assured the Court today that the government would ensure compliance with the High Court's judgment..During the hearing today, Salve also told the Court that comments such as "judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court should be locked up with COVID patients" were made on social media after the judgment for Ramesh's reinstatement was passed..After hearing the parties, the Court allowed Ramesh Kumar a week's time to place the additional facts on record and file an affidavit accordingly..In June this year, the Supreme Court had issued notice in a plea filed by the State of Andhra Pradesh challenging the decision of the High Court.. Not convinced motives were "entirely innocent": SC notice on AP govt's challenge to HC verdict against Ordinance that cut short SEC tenure.The decision of the High Court to quash the Ordinance had also led to the reinstatement of Kumar as the State Election Commissioner, who earlier had to leave the post on account of the Ordinance effectively cutting his tenure short..Earlier, the Apex Court had also questioned the state government about the Ordinance, observing that it was not convinced that the motives to pass the Ordinance were "entirely innocent". It was clarified that there will be no stay on the High Court's order..In its appeal before the Supreme Court, the State of Andhra Pradesh has highlighted that the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 entailed the following key changes:Only a retired High Court Judge (being a trained judicial mind) could be appointed as the State Election Commissioner. Prior to the amendment, the post could be held by a retired bureaucrat;The term of the SEC which was earlier for a period of 5 years was reduced to three years;The term of the existing SEC was brought to an end;A new SEC was appointed..The state government asserted before the Supreme Court that these changes were necessitated to bring in "transparency and efficiency in the functioning of the State Election Commission"..Andhra Pradesh Govt moves Supreme Court against HC-ordered reinstatement of State Election Commissioner Dr N Ramesh Kumar.These changes had led to the termination of Kumar as SEC after three years of service, though he had been appointed for a five-year term. In his place, retired Madras High Court judge, Justice (retd.) V Kanagraj was appointed as the new SEC..Earlier, the High Court Bench of Chief Justice JK Maheshwari and M Sathyanarayana Murthy had struck down the Ordinance stating that it was "actuated by fraud on power and does not qualify the test of rationality and reasonableness specified in Article 14 of the Constitution of India.".Dr N Ramesh Kumar reinstated as Andhra Pradesh SEC after High Court quashes Ordinance cutting short tenure as "actuated by fraud on power" .In the plea challenging this ruling, the state government contended that the High Court had proceeded on the erroneous premise that the power of appointment the SEC is vested personally with the Governor..It further argued that the High Court's finding that the SEC appointment should be at the personal discretion of the Governor is "ex facie unsustainable"..Read Ramesh Kumar's application to bring additional facts on record:.Read Order: