Stripped of CBI charge, Alok Verma resigns from service

File image of Alok Verma | PTI

Alok Verma, who was reinstated as CBI director by the Supreme Court after nearly 3-months of forced leave, was transferred from the agency on Friday.

New Delhi: Alok Verma submitted his resignation from service on Friday, a day after he was removed as CBI director by a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In his resignation letter, accessed by PTI, Verma said that it was a moment of “collective introspection”.

Refusing to take on his new assignment as director general of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards under the home ministry, Verma wrote to the secretary of Department of Personnel and Training, stating the selection committee has not provided him an opportunity to explain the details as recorded by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) before arriving at the decision of transferring him.

“Natural justice was scuttled and the entire process was turned upside down in ensuring that the undersigned is removed from the post of the director CBI. The selection committee did not consider the fact that the entire CVC report is premised on charges alluded by a complainant who is presently under investigation by the CBI,” Verma said in a veiled reference to special director Rakesh Asthana.

He said it may be noted that the CVC only forwarded a purportedly signed statement of the complainant (Asthana), and the complainant never came before Justice (Retd) A.K. Patnaik who is supervising the enquiry.

“Also, Justice Patnaik has concluded that the findings and conclusions of the report are not his,” the 61-year-old said.

He said institutions are one of the strongest and most visible symbols of the democracy and it was no exaggeration that the CBI is one of the most important organisations in India today.

“The decisions made yesterday will not just be a reflection on my functioning but will become a testimony on how the CBI as an institution will be treated by any government through the CVC, who is appointed by majority members of the ruling government. This is a moment for collective introspection to state the least,” he said.

 

A former Delhi police commissioner and a 1979-batch IPS officer from AGMUT cadre, Verma said he is a career bureaucrat and it is the idea of his integrity that has been the driving force for four decades in public service.

“I have served the Indian Police Service with an unblemished record and have headed police forces in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Mizoram, Delhi and also headed two organisations Delhi Prisons and CBI, he said.

Thanking officers of the organisations he headed and police officers, Verma said all these organisations reported outstanding achievements, having a direct bearing on the performance of the force and their welfare.

“Also, it may be noted that the undersigned would have already superannuated as on July 31, 2017 and was only serving the government as director, CBI till January 31, 2019 as the same was a fixed tenure role. The undersigned is no longer director, CBI and has already crossed his superannuation age for DG, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards. Accordingly. the undersigned may be deemed as superannuated with effect from today,” he wrote.

Kharge, who has opposed his appointment as the CBI director in 2017, had not sided with the other two members of high powered panel in shifting him from the agency.

The Congress leader had instead asked for extending his tenure by 77 days, the period on which he was on forced leave besides advocating that Verma should be given a chance to appear before the committee and present his case.