Centre is right when it says CVC answerable to the Prez, but the nation knows the truth...

The Centre on Wednesday, December 5, told the Supreme Court that the fight between two top officers of the CBI — Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana — in public exposed the premier probe agency to ridicule. The Court will continue to hear the case on Thursday, December 6.

Resuming his submissions, Attorney General KK Venugopal told a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that the fight between the two officers impacted the image of the CBI.

The Centre's main aim was to see that confidence of the public in this premier institution (CBI) is restored, he said.

"Dispute between CBI Director and Special Director was pulling down integrity and respect of premier institution," he told the bench also comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph.

"Two top officers, Alok Kumar Verma and Rakesh Asthana, were fighting against each other and went public which exposed CBI to ridicule," Venugopal told the bench.

He said the fight between them had created an unprecedented and extraordinary situation.

The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “Not only that CVC has jurisdiction but also would have been answerable to President of India if it had not acted.”

The apex court on Nov 29 had 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 should have been approached before moving against Verma on corruption allegations against him.

Alok Verma and his deputy, CBI special director Rakesh Asthana, were sent on leave by the Centre after a feud between the two came out into the open, with both levelling serious accusations of corruption against each other.

Verma said the government’s October 23 decision to divest him of responsibilities amounted to a transfer. Verma’s lawyer Fali S Nariman told the bench that there was no basis for the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to pass an order recommending to send him on leave.

Nariman also said that the CVC Act made it clear that the Director cannot be transferred without the approval of the committee.

The bench, meanwhile, made it clear it was not going into allegations and counter-allegations at this stage and would only look into the question of law on whether the government had the power to initiate action.

*Developing story