Alok Verma resumes charge, revokes transfer orders

New Delhi: A selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on Wednesday to discuss the fate of CBI Director Alok Verma, reinstated by a Supreme Court order after he was sent on forced leave by the government. The panel has reportedly decided to hold a second meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, immediately after joining the office on Wednesday Alok Verma revoked most of the transfer orders issued by then Director (in-charge) M Nageshwar Rao.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Senior Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Sikri are among the members of the panel. Justice Sikri is part of the panel in place of the chief justice Ranjan Gogoi. The meeting held at the prime minister’s residence at Lok Kalyan Marg here.

Kharge had earlier requested the government to defer the meeting since he had been busy with the Lok Sabha proceedings and hadn’t studied the Supreme Court’s order on Alok Verma. In his letter he had asked for the meeting to be held on January 11, giving him enough time to study the judgement.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Verma as the CBI director. It quashed the government’s unprecedented “overnight” order over two months ago, stripping him of his powers and sending him on leave after he and his deputy Rakesh Asthana traded corruption charges sparking a bitter feud. The court, while reinstating Verma, however, made it clear that he will desist from taking any major policy decision till a high-powered committee considers the issue of “divestment of power and authority”.  Verma’s two-year tenure as CBI director ends on January 31.

Meanwhile, Verma had on Wednesday joined the office following the order. He revoked most of the transfer orders issued by then Director (in-charge) M Nageshwar Rao. Rao had effected a large number of transfers, including of officials probing a corruption case against Asthana like DySP A K Bassi, DIG M K Sinha and Joint Director A K Sharma. The October 23 (2018) order sent Verma and his deputy Special Director Rakesh Asthana, booked by the agency on corruption charges, into exile in a first-of-its-kind move by the government in the agency’s history. In sending Verma on leave, the government overlooked the immunity given to the CBI director by the Supreme Court ensuring a two-year minimum tenure to protect the incumbent from any political interference.

The government tried to justify its decision, saying it became necessary amid an unprecedented feud between the two senior-most officials of the agency who had levelled charges of corruption on each other, an argument rejected by the apex court on Tuesday. The government had given charge to then Joint Director M Nageswara Rao who was later promoted as additional director in the agency. Verma had challenged the move in the Supreme Court which clipped the powers of Rao as director in-charge and barred him from taking any major policy decision till a final order comes from it.