CBI Row: Make Minutes of Selection Panel’s Jan 10 Meet Public, Kharge Tells PM
Image Coutesy: Outlook India
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, the dissenting member of the high-powered selection committee that decided to oust former CBI Director Alok Verma 48 hours after the Supreme Court order to reinstate him, has asked the Prime Minister to make all documents related to the decision be made public, as also the minutes of the January 10 meeting.
Opposing the appointment of Nageswara Ro as interim CBI Director, Kharge has written a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for convening an immediate meeting of the selection committee to “appoint a new CBI chief,” as per a report in the Times of India.
The Congress leader also urged the PM to make public the reports of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and that of the Supreme Court-appointed observer, Justice A K Patnaik.
A day after the January 10 meeting, which decided on Verma’s ouster, Kharge had gone public saying that he had not seen copies of either of the reports.
Justice Patnaik, too, had told The Indian Express that there was “no evidence of corruption” against Verma, and “what the CVC says cannot be the final word”.
Apart from the Prime Minister and Kharge, the high-powered committee includes the nominee of the Chief Justice of India, which was Justice AK Sikri. The decision to sack Verma, who was not even asked to give his version, was based on the CVC’s report on a 2:1 vote, as per reports.
In the letter to the PM (which is now in the public domain) dated January 14, Kharge cited media reports and said: “Despite my best efforts to convince the members of the committee that we should be following the due process of law and the principles of natural justice, the members chose to take a decision based on a report that now stands disowned by Justice Patnaik who was asked by the Supreme Court to monitor the CVC’s enquiry.”
On the appointment of Rao, Kharge writes: “ The actions of this government in handling the appointments in CBI have been consistently against the letter and spirit of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act”, adding that the appointment of an “Interim Director (a post that does not exist as per the DSPE Act) has once again been made without consulting the selection committee.”
Kharge said Rao’s appointment, therefore, was “illegal and against Sections 4A(1) and 4A(3) of the DSPE Act.”
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