Govt sends CBI chief on leave in midnight move
CBI VS CBI Supreme Court to hear Verma’s challenge against ouster tomorrow NEW DELHI:
After removing Alok Verma as the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a midnight move, the government on Wednesday said he had not cooperated with the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) probing allegations of corruption against him.
“… The CVC has observed that director, CBI, has not been cooperating in making available records/files sought by the commission relating to serious allegations,” the government said in a statement. Verma has moved the Supreme Court challenging the move against him.
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley defended the government in a press conference, saying Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana were removed from their posts to maintain the agency’s institutional integrity and fairness.
“Officers under cloud must stand out as interim measure. This is in accordance with the highest standards of fairness,” Jaitley said, pointing to the allegations and counter-allegations that Verma and Asthana had levelled at each other.
The Opposition attacked the government over its late-night decision. Asthana, the second senior-most officer in the federal agency, was under investigation for taking bribes.
The government said the allegations of corruption by senior CBI officer against each other “vitiated the official eco-system of the organisation.”
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is campaigning in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar, said in a tweet that Verma was forced to go on leave because he was collecting documents relating to the Rafale deal.
“The Prime Minister’s message is clear; whoever comes close to the Rafale case will be removed, erased. The country and constitution are in danger,” he tweeted. The Congress also claimed that the Central Vigilance Commission, which had recommended stripping Verma and Asthana of their charge, had exceeded its mandate.
“The CVC has no powers to appoint or disappoint CBI director... it has no power to interfere in the law,” senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said in Delhi.
VERMA APPEALS IN SC
Alluding to government interference in sensitive cases, Verma said in a petition in the Supreme Court that his removal was illegal and had bypassed a high-powered committee.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said Verma’s plea would be taken up on October 26 after his counsel pressed for an urgent hearing on the order issued against him following an escalation of rift between the top officials at the agency over bribery charges.
Verma claimed that the shunting out violated law that provides for a fixed tenure of two years, and that order sending him on leave had bypassed the mandate that the transfer of a CBI director has to be with the consent of the high powered committee.
Verma also said not all influence exerted by the government is explicit or in writing. “More often than not, it is tacit, and requires considerable courage to withstand it,” he said.
He also accused Asthana of creating hurdles in decisions crucial to the progress of investigation in sensitive cases, some of them being monitored by the SC and had ”concocted evidence to impugn Verma’s reputation”. He offered to furnish details of sensitive cases that led to his removal.
Verma had on Tuesday divested special director Rakesh Asthana of all cases he is overseeing and recommended that he be transferred out of the agency.
Asthana, the second seniormost officer in the federal agency, has been accused of taking bribes, and secured protection from arrest from the high court, which ordered a ‘status quo’ until the next hearing on October 29.
Asthana had claimed in court that the case against him was “malafide” and that Verma was “trying to falsely implicate him (Asthana) to hide his own criminal misconduct of influencing investigation in exchange of money”.
Any curtailment of the tenure of any CBI officer of or above the rank of superintendent of police needs to be cleared by a panel led by the CVC.