Supreme Court raps Centre on exigency to send Alok Verma on leave

The Supreme Court on Thursday rapped the central government over the exigency shown in sending the CBI chief on leave without consulting the Selection Committee.

(Image : The Pioneer)

In Wednesday’s hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had commenced his arguments on behalf of the CVC while senior Counsel Fali Nariman, Dushyant Dave, Kapil Sibal and Rajeev Dhavan had argued against the government’s decision to send Verma on leave. Attorney General KK Venugopal had also argued to defend the State’s decision to send Verma on leave.

On Thursday after Mehta resumed his submissions in the case, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi asked the Centre's counsel that what was the difficulty in consulting the Selection Committee and what prompted the overnight decision to send Verma and CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana on leave after their feud came out in public. 

CJI Gogoi remarked that the idea of the two-year tenure for the CBI director was to "give them some permanence". Gogoi said that the argument by Verma is that any action which would divest him of his powers would need the approval of the Selection Committee. 

Mehta replied that in this case, an emergent action was necessary. "There are answers and I will provide them," he said in the top court. Here, Gogoi agreed that Verma, of course, continues to be a part of the IPS despite his current role with the CBI. 

Here, Mehta reiterated that Verma was not transferred but only sent on leave signifying the act to be a temporary arrangement in nature. "Transfer would mean change in place of employment from one place to another and it would be a permanent act," he stated. 

However, reacting to his argument the CJI said, "Even if we are to accept your argument that the government action was necessary in view of an infight, why have you not approached the Selection Committee till date regarding the divestment of Verma's charges. You are saying that the situation was going on since last July. What prompted the overnight decision on 23 October? Why not wait for a few more months? What is the difficulty in consulting the Selection Committee." Pulling up the government for not approaching the committee before deciding to sendin Verma on leave, the CJI asked the government as to why it couldn't be "completely fair". "Better to consult the committee than not consult it at all," the CJI said.

Meanwhile, State counsel Venugopal argued that "if the matter would have been placed before the committee, then the committee would have said that 'this is not a transfer, so why to place it before us'," stating that it was a "highly artificial argument" (by Verma) to say that this was a transfer.

In October, the Court had ordered that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) inquiry initiated against Verma be completed within two weeks under the supervision of Justice (Retd.) AK Patnaik, to find out if there is a prima facie case made out against Verma.

On 16 November, the Bench of CJI Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph had directed that a copy of the CVC report be served on Alok Verma so that he can respond to it. Alok Verma submitted his response to the CVC report in a sealed cover on 19 November.