TOP COURT REINSTATES CBI CHIEF
India’s highest court has ordered the government to reinstate Alok Verma as head of the Central Bureau of Investigation but it also barred him from taking major policy decisions
new delhi — The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma, setting aside the Centre’s decision to divest him of his powers, but restrained him from taking any major policy decision till the CVC probe into corruption charges against him is over.
“We deem it proper to direct that... Verma ... upon reinstatement will cease and desist from taking any major policy decisions till the decision of the Committee permitting actions and decisions becomes available within the time frame indicated,” the court said in its order.
The apex court said any further decision against Verma, who was sent on leave following the Centre’s October 23 decision and retires on January 31, would be taken by the high-powered committee which selects and appoints the CBI director.
The selection committee comprises the prime minister, the leader of opposition and the chief justice of India.
The top court said the high powered committee will take its decision on the basis of the findings of the Central Vigilance Commission inquiry. It said the meeting of the committee should be convened within a week.
The judgement was penned by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. However, the CJI didn’t attend court and it was pronounced by Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.
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.
With the verdict, the apex court has set aside the Centre’s October 23 decision divesting Verma as CBI chief and sending him on leave.
Verma’s two-year tenure as CBI Director ends on January 31. He has moved the top court challenging the Centre’s decision.
Verma sought quashing of three orders of October 23, 2018 — one by the 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.
Rao, a 1986 batch Odisha-cadre IPS officer, was given the charge of interim chief of the probe agency. The Centre took the decision to send Verma and CBI’s Special Director Rakesh Asthana on leave after their feud become public. The top two charged each other of corruption. The Centre said Verma and Asthana were fighting like
Let this be a lesson to you about the strength of our democracy and the Constitution. Let this be a lesson that howsoever despotic u may be, law catches up in the end
Randeep Surjewala, Congress spokesperson
Modi govt has ruined all institutions and democracy in our country. Wasn’t CBI director illegally removed at midnight to stall the probe in Rafale scam which directly leads to PM himself? Arvind Kejriwal,
Delhi CM
“Kilkenny cats”, exposing the country’s premier investigating agency to “public ridicule”.
Challenging the government’s decision, Verma’s counsel and senior advocate Fali S Nariman 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”. Nariman said there was no basis for the CVC to pass an order recommending that Verma
Will he [PM Narendra Modi] take responsibility for this blatantly illegal act? If he has any moral conscience he should quit. Accountability, anyone or is it just #jumlas?
Sitaram Yechury, CPI (M) general secretary
It’s a case of partial victory for Verma in the sense he has been restored and the order removing him has been quashed... But unfortunately he has been restrained from taking major decisions.
Prashant Bhushan, senior SC lawyer
be sent on leave. The Congress on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he has been exposed for “destroying” the premier investigating agency.
“Modiji please remember, governments have come and gone. Integrity of our institutions have survived. Let this be a lesson to you about the strength of our democracy and the Constitution. Let this be a lesson that howsoever despotic you may be, law catches up in the end,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a series of tweets. —