Rahul Gandhi courts arrest amid nationwide protests by Congress outside CBI offices demanding Alok Verma’s reinstatement
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday set a two-week deadline for the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete its probe against CBI chief Alok Verma, who along with Special Director Rakesh Asthana was divested of duties and sent on leave following their bitter feud, and appointed a former apex court judge to monitor the inquiry.
The direction by the top court that was welcomed by both the government and the opposition Congress came amid nationwide protests outside the CBI offices by Congress leaders led by party chief Rahul Gandhi against the order of the government to strip Verma of his powers and sending him on leave. The Congress demanded “reinstatement” of Verma.
Gandhi courted arrest after leading a protest of party workers outside the CBI headquarters in the national capital and was taken to nearby Lodhi Colony police station where he was detained for 30 minutes along with other party leaders before they were let off.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the apex court order was a “positive development.” The court also observed it did not want the CBI issue before the court to linger on.
“This is not in the interest of the country,” it said. The internal crisis in the CBI was unprecedented in the 55-year history of the country’s premier probe agency.
The court made it clear the supervision of the probe by a former Supreme Court judge was a “one-time exception” given the “peculiar facts” of the case and does not cast reflection on any authority of the government.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi while directing that the CVC probe into the allegations made in the August 24 note/letter of the Cabinet Secretary with regard to Verma be conducted under the supervision of Justice(retd) A K Patnaik also barred IPS officer M Nageswara Rao from taking any policy decisions or any major decision. Rao was given interim charge of looking after the duties of the CBI Director.
It said the “entrustment of supervision” to a former judge should not be understood to be casting any reflection on any authority of the Government of India. The bench also comprised Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph. The CVC has the superintendent authority above the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI).
It further said that a list of all the decisions taken by Rao between October 23 and up to this hour will be furnished to the court in a sealed cover on or before November 12–the next date of hearing– after which it would pass appropriate orders.
The court made it clear that from now on Rao, who is a Joint Director of CBI, would only perform the routine tasks that are essential to keep the CBI functional.
During the hearing, the court at first remarked that decisions taken by Rao since October 23 are not to be implemented but later it ordered that it would decide on that aspect only after perusing the decisions taken by him.
The bench sought responses from the Centre and CVC on the plea of Verma who has also sought a stay on the Centre’s order giving interim charge of his post to Rao. However, this prayer was not raised during the hearing.
Asthana has also moved the Supreme Court with a separate petition in the matter. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CVC, said the commission was in the process of conducting inquiry and keeping in view the large number of documents involved, 10 days time would not be sufficient to complete the inquiry. Later, the court granted two weeks to the CVC to complete the inquiry.
Senior advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for Verma, said the CBI director was appointed for a two-year tenure with the approval of a selection panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. “The question is whether the tenure could be breached at any time?” Nariman asked.
Centre imposing Hitler’s rule: PCC
Bhubaneswar: As part of the nationwide strike called by the Congress, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) workers led by PCC president Niranjan Patnaik took out a protest rally and staged demonstration before the CBI office here. The protesters burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP national president Amit Shah. As the CBI director Alok Verma was keen to investigate the Rafale scam, the Centre removed him from the post and sent him on leave for an indefinite period, he alleged. “The Modi-led NDA government is indulging in rampant corruption and trying to impose Hitler’s rule,” the Congress leader said. Commenting on CBI special director Rakesh Asthana, he said Asthana was supervising the probe into the mega chit fund scam in Odisha, but did nothing to give justice to the people who had invested their money in the chit fund firms. He further said the BJD government in Odisha is tightlipped on this, as these two political parties are two sides of the same coin. “Both are supporting each other on every issue. Now it is clear that they are brothers and people of Odisha must remember this. This has esposed their real face,” Patnaik added. Earlier, state BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty had also made similar statement alleging there was a ‘secret deal’ between Asthana and BJD government to suppress the CBI probe in Odisha. Reacting to the issue, senior BJD leader and Dhenkanal MP Tathagata Satpathy said, “CBI is a Central government organisation. It has become difficult for me to understand how a regional party can have control over that.” On BJP’s allegation, the the Lok Sabha MP asked who had managed Alok Verma. “If a regional party is able to manage senior level officials of Central government, then I think, that party should rule at the Centre.” Hitting back at the BJP, the BJD leader further said, “People have lost faith in the CBI during the UPA government as corruption had hit all premier institutions of the country. Then, people had thought that the BJP government will not interfere in the affairs of these institutions. But, it is unfortunate for the country that they (BJP) have neither shown any interest, nor tried anything to bring any reform in the system.” The BJP is two steps ahead of the Congress in misutilising government machineries, he added.