PTI, NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday said it would first consider whether the government has the power to divest the CBI director of his duties under whatever circumstances or whether the selection committee headed by the prime minister must be approached before moving against Alok Verma on corruption allegations involving him.
The court took this stand after making it clear that for now it was not going into the allegations and counter-allegations involving Verma and CBI’s No.2 officer and Special Director R K Asthana both of whom have been stripped of their powers and sent on forced leave following their bitter feud. Verma’s two-year tenure ends on January 31 next.
The top court also clarified it has not taken judicial note of Verma’s reply given to the court in a sealed cover on the probe findings of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) against him.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph said the hearing on the issue relating to the powers of the Centre will continue on December 5 and deferred hearing on the report of the CVC probe for a later stage. The report found that some charges against Verma needed further investigations.
“We will first go into the limited aspect whether the CBI director can be touched by any government order in whatever may be the circumstances or the government has no other option but to approach the selection committee before moving against him,” the bench said.
