The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Tuesday its verdict on the plea of CBI director Alok Kumar Verma against the Narendra Modi government's decision to divest him of powers and send him on leave.
The Modi government had taken the decision against Verma and CBI special director Rakesh Asthana after their feud become public as the two officers made allegations of corruption against each other.
Verma has sought quashing of three orders of October 23, 2018—one by the Central Vigilance Commission (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.
CBI Joint Director M. Nageswara Rao, a 1986 batch Odisha-cadre IPS officer, was given the charge of interim chief of the probe agency. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had on December 6 reserved the judgement after hearing arguments on behalf of Verma, the Centre, the CVC and others.
The Supreme Court had also heard a plea moved by NGO Common Cause, which had sought a court-monitored SIT probe into the allegations of corruption against various CBI officials, including Asthana.
Verma's two-year tenure as CBI director ends on January 31. He had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Modi government's decision.
The Modi government had justified its decision to divest Verma of his duties and send him on leave before the Supreme Court, saying he and Asthana were fighting like "Kilkenny cats", exposing the country's premier investigating agency to "public ridicule".
Attorney General K.K. Venugopal had told the bench, also comprising Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph, that the Centre was well "within its right to intervene" and send both officers on leave by divesting them of their powers.
Venugopal had told the Supreme Court that "only God knows where and how this fight between the two top officers would have ended" if the government would not have taken the action, which was aimed at restoring public faith in the CBI.
Challenging the Modi government's decision, Verma's counsel and senior advocate Fali S. Nariman had argued that Verma was appointed CBI director 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 had said there was no basis for the CVC to pass an order recommending that Verma be sent on leave.
