CVC to complete inquiry against Verma in 2 weeks, Rao can’t take policy decisions, says SC

The Supreme Court Friday set a deadline of two weeks for the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete the inquiry against CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma, who has been divested of his duties and sent on leave in view of feud between him and Special Director Rakesh Asthana.
The court directed that the inquiry be conducted under the supervision of a retired apex court judge and barred IPS officer M Nageswara Rao, who has been given interim charge of looking after the duties of CBI Director, from taking any policy or major decision.It also said that the decisions taken by Rao since October 23 till today would not be implemented.Making it clear that Rao, who is a Joint Director of CBI, would continue to do routine work to keep the agency functioning, the court further said that the decisions taken by him will be placed before it in a sealed cover.Asthana has also approached the Supreme Court with a separate petition in the matter. The court said that the CVC’s inquiry into the allegations against Verma, who has challenged the government’s decision divesting him of his duties and sending him on leave, would be conducted under the supervision of retired apex court judge Justice A K Patnaik and this was a “one-time exception”.A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notices to the Centre and CVC seeking their response on the plea filed by Verma who has also sought a stay on the Centre’s order giving interim charge of his post to Rao, a 1986 batch Odisha-cadre IPS officer.The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, also dealt with the petition filed by NGO Common Cause which has sought a probe by special investigation team (SIT) against CBI officers, including Asthana.The top court issued notices to the Centre, CBI, CVC, Asthana, Verma and Rao on the NGO’s plea and asked them to respond to it by November 12.During the hearing, the bench told Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, that it would examine the matter and CVC’s inquiry should be completed within 10 days under the supervision of a sitting apex court judge.
“We want to see preliminary probe report in 10 days to decide whether it requires further probe,” the bench said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CVC, said the commission was under the process of conducting inquiry and keeping in view the large number of documents involved, 10 days time would not be sufficient to complete the inquiry.
“We should get some reasonable and realistic time for the inquiry,” he said.The bench said, “Okay, then 240 hours. We do not want this to go on. This is not in the interest of the country”.”We do not want this to linger on,” the bench told Mehta, adding, “We are confident that CVC will do it”.
Later, however, the court granted the CVC two weeks to complete the inquiry.Mehta also urged that for the time being, the apex court could consider that the issue be examined by the CVC only.