CJI nominates Justice A K Sikri to be part of the CBI selection panel

NEW DELHI: CJI Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday nominated Justice A K Sikri to be part of the selection committee along with PM Narendra Modi and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge that will decide the fate of CBI director Alok Kumar Verma.

CJI Gogoi in his order said since he was part of the bench that decided Verma's petition against Centre's October 23 decision to divest him of powers pending the CVC inquiry, he is nominating Justice Sikri, who is number two most senior judge in the Supreme Court, to be part of Selection Committee.

The committee, comprising PM Narendra Modi, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge — who had filed a petition challenging the order to send Verma on leave — and the CJI or his nominee, will meet within a week as directed by the SC.

The PM is bound to back his government’s decision while Kharge will certainly oppose it, leaving the decision to hinge on the apex court judge nominated to take part in the meeting.

In a setback to the Modi government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down its decision to send CBI director Alok Kumar Verma on leave after divesting him of all powers, reinstating the IPS officer as the head of the probe agency.

In its unanimous 44-page judgment, a bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph agreed with Verma and NGO Common Cause that the Centre had no power to divest the CBI director of his powers without the consent of the selection committee that had appointed him.

The court also quashed the appointment of M Nageswar Rao as the acting director as part of the order which ring-fenced the two-year fixed tenure of the CBI chief from any “tinkering”, and held that no action can be taken against the agency chief without the consent of the panel responsible for his appointment.

However, the SC also put curbs on Verma saying he would continue as a “caretaker” and perform only routine work until the selection committee, consisting of the PM, the leader of the largest opposition group in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India, examines the charges against him that had led the Centre to bench him on October 23, and decides within a week on whether to allow him to continue until January 31 when he superannuates.