Politics · India Bureau
Cabinet Secretariat declined to act on Election Commissioners' complaints
The Cabinet Secretariat has declined to take action on complaints filed by two Election Commissioners against a senior officer, citing the absence of an official communication from the Commission as a whole. The decision was disclosed through an RTI reply.
LSN India ·
The Cabinet Secretariat determined that complaints lodged by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi against Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, IAS, did not warrant intervention, records show.
Both commissioners submitted separate communications on July 29 to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan regarding the functioning of Garg, who was posted to the Election Commission by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet in September 2024. However, the secretariat reasoned that since the complaints were submitted in the commissioners' individual capacity rather than as an official position of the Commission, action would be premature without formal communication from the institution itself.
The decision reflects bureaucratic protocol regarding complaints against officers posted to constitutional bodies. The Cabinet Secretariat noted that proceeding without official sanction from the Commission could set an inappropriate precedent.
Details of the correspondence and the secretariat's response were revealed through an RTI application filed by retired Commodore Lokesh K Batra. The matter had previously drawn attention following reports of tensions within the Election Commission over work allocation procedures.