Justice KM Joseph

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice KM Joseph on Monday recused from hearing a plea challenging appointment of Arun Goel as Election Commissioner. A bench of Justices Joseph and BV Nagarathna said, "List the matter before another bench". Before the bench recused from hearing, the top court questioned NGO 'Association for Democratic Reforms' for challenging Goel's appointment and asked it to show which rules were violated. It said after the appointment of a person to a constitutional post, presumptions cannot be made that he will act unfairly, arbitrarily or will be "yes man". The bench said the petition has relied on a March 2 verdict of the apex court which had ruled that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and ECs will be done by the President on the recommendation of a committee, comprising the prime minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and the CJI, to maintain the "purity of election". In the lengthy verdict, the five-judge bench had said it was .

Seniority has evolved into a nonsensical rule and must be discarded; even as arbitrariness is inherent in all rules, seniority rule for appointments has a bearing on the efficiency of public policy

Justice Banerjee was the first to take oath followed by justices Saran and Joseph

The petition said that the present example is a direct infringement of the primacy and independence of the Judiciary

Justice KM Joseph is senior-most Chief Justice of High Court in terms of experience and served two years as Chief Justice. Justice Joseph struck down proclamation of President's rule in the State