Supreme Court Declines Plea for Cooling-Off Period for Civil Servants to Contest Polls

The Supreme Court has rejected a plea seeking the implementation of the 2012 recommendations of the Election Commission regarding the cooling-off period for public servants to prevent them from contesting elections immediately after retirement or resignation. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Sandeep Mehta allowed the petitioner, former parliamentarian G V Harsha Kumar, to withdraw the plea with the liberty to approach the appropriate authority.

The plea, filed by advocate Sravan Kumar Karanam on behalf of Harsha Kumar, urged directions to the Election Commission and the Centre to implement the 2012 recommendations of the poll panel and the July 2004 report of the Committee on Civil Service Reforms. The aim was to impose a cooling-off period for government servants to contest elections on a political party ticket after retirement or resignation from service.

The petitioner highlighted that despite recommendations made two decades ago, there has been a lack of implementation, allowing bureaucrats and public servants to join politics immediately after retirement without a cooling-off period. The plea emphasized the importance of a cooling-off period to prevent the misuse of privileged information and ensure that civil servants have sufficient time to disassociate themselves from their previous roles and responsibilities.

While the Supreme Court acknowledged the petitioner’s concerns, it declined to entertain the plea, prompting the petitioner’s counsel to withdraw the petition. Despite the setback in court, the issue of implementing a cooling-off period for civil servants entering politics remains pertinent, raising questions about the potential misuse of sensitive information and the need for ethical transitions between public service and political roles.

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