Supreme Court: The Bench comprising of CJ Ranjan Gogoi and Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph, JJ., laid down some interim arrangement in order to govern the present situation.
Background:
The Central Government divested the CBI Director Alok Verma and his deputy Special Director Rakesh Asthana of all their powers and sent them on leave pending enquiry against them in the alleged corruption charges.
The decision was taken on the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission which stated that Alok Verma was not cooperating in inquiry in the allegations of corruption and criminal misconduct levelled against him by Rakesh Asthana and it would be only fair to take both off duty till the charges are probed. Furthermore, M. Nageswara Rao, a 1986 Odisha cadre IPS officer who joined the CBI in 2016 was appointed as interim Director of India’s premier investigating the agency.
Alok Verma has approached the Supreme Court against the order of the Central Government that stripped him off his powers and sent him on forced leave.
The interim directions by the court are as follows:
- Enquiry in regard to the allegations made against the present Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Alok Verma shall be completed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) within a period of two weeks.
- The stated enquiry will be conducted under the supervision of the retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice A.K. Patnaik.
- M. Nageswara Rao who has been entrusted with the task of looking after the duties of the Director of the CBI shall not take any policy decisions or any major decisions and will perform the routine tasks that are essential to keep the functionality of CBI.
Further, the Supreme Court made it clear that the supervision of on-going enquiry by the CVC to a former judge is an exception being taken due to the necessity being felt on considering the facts of the present case.
The matter has been listed immediately after the Diwali holidays i.e. on 12-11-2018. Alok Verma is represented by veteran advocate Fali S. Nariman, while Attorney General K.K. Venugopal is appearing for the Central Government. [Alok Kumar Verma v. Union of India,2018 SCC OnLine SC 2249, Order dated 26-10-2018]