The Supreme Court today set aside Centre’s October 23 order divesting CBI chief Alok Verma of his powers, but restrained him from taking any major policy decision till the CVC probe into corruption charges against him is over

Verma, who was sent on forced leave by the government following his run-in with his number two Rakesh Asthana, will now be reinstated but will not take any major decisions till a high powered committee, which includes the CJI and the Prime Minister, takes a call on his transfer. The high powered committee will decide on the matter in a week.

The apex court also set aside the Centre’s decision to appoint senior IPS officer M Nageswara Rao, who was joint director, as the agency’s interim chief.

Verma’s two-year tenure as CBI director ends this January 31.

The court justified its decision on the ground that the law in the Vineet Narain case was intended to insulate the office from extraneous influences.

The judgment was pronounced by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph in the absence of Chief Justice Gogoi who was on leave.

Reacting to the verdict, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the government had sent Verma and Asthana on leave on the CVC’s recommendation, and that its only aim was to protect the CBI.

The Centre had taken a decision against Verma and CBI’s Special Director Rakesh Asthana after their feud become public as they made allegations of corruption against each other.

Verma had sought quashing of three orders of October 23, 2018 — one by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and two by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), as being without jurisdiction and in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

The Centre had justified its decision to divest Verma of his duties and sending him on leave before the apex court saying he and Asthana were fighting like “Kilkenny cats”, exposing the country’s premier investigating agency to “public ridicule”.

Attorney General K K Venugopal had told the bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, that the Centre was well “within its right to intervene” and send both officers on leave by divesting them of their powers.

Challenging the government’s decision, Verma’s counsel and senior advocate Fali S Nariman had argued that the CBI Director was appointed on February 1, 2017 and “the position of law is that there will be a fixed tenure of two years and this gentleman cannot be even transferred”.

Source : EconomicTimes