Eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee feels Modi govt’s hurried move to remove CBI chief Alok Verma raises suspicion, says it was avoidable.
New Delhi: The manner in which the Narendra Modi government removed Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director Alok Verma has raised suspicion and doubts in the minds of people about its intention, eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee has said.
While the Supreme Court will examine the legality of the controversial move, prima facie it appears that the government cannot circumvent the set procedure to remove a sitting CBI director and carry out the move with such inexplicable urgency, Sorabjee told ThePrint Thursday.
“The government must produce credible, cogent grounds (before the Supreme Court) because it is unusual to send someone before their tenure is over,” he said, even as he stopped short of calling the move illegal.
“The Supreme Court would want to know why this telling hurry,” the former attorney general said.
“The government has a case to answer, and it cannot say we are the government, so we did it,” Sorabjee added.
SC to hear Verma’s plea Friday
Hours after the government, in an unprecedented move, sent Verma on leave, he challenged his ouster in the Supreme Court, calling the move “patently illegal”. The court is set to hear his petition Friday.
Also read: Takes courage to withstand political influence: Ousted CBI chief Alok Verma in SC
“The move was avoidable and should have been avoided,” Sorabjee said.
“Why this midnight drama? Why this urgency? I don’t see any telling urgency to do it at midnight,” he said.
However, suspicion is not the same as evidence, he added. If the government is able to establish that it was imperative to hurriedly remove Verma from his position overnight, then the set procedure can be set aside, Sorabjee said.
1998 SC judgment
According to the Supreme Court’s own judgment in 1998 in the Vineet Narain & Others vs Union of India, the court had clearly said the transfer of “an incumbent director, CBI, in an extraordinary situation, including the need for him to take up a more important assignment, should have the approval of the selection committee”.
The selection committee comprises the Prime Minister, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him.
However, if the government is able to establish that there were “extraordinary circumstances” to remove him, it may be able to justify its actions before the court, Sorabjee said.
‘CBI feud brings the agency under a cloud’
He said the public slugfest between the top officers of the CBI and the government’s subsequent actions bring the agency under a cloud.
Also read: Modi govt’s brazen interference in CBI feud a bid to subvert agency: Plea in SC
“I will not call it a threat, but it brings it under a cloud, which itself is not good,” he said.
“If the public starts having doubts about the objectivity and neutrality of (the) agency, it is a bad thing, and it should not happen,” Sorabjee said.
“It may not be a reason to worry, but the government should introspect — could these things have been avoided? Because once public confidence shakes, it is a bad thing,” he said, arguing that if nothing else, the controversy has shaken the public trust in the CBI.
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist,Barnala(Punjab)
What a midnight ” National Interest ” drama !
Still can we claim that the rule of law, constitution, norms, due processes, due provisions and due procedures are honoured and adhered to by the those at the helm of affairs of the nation ? Are they not at their wits end now ?
The developments over the NaMo regime of almost four and half years very clearly imply that gone are the times and era where all these considerations of norms will have any relevance or meaning at all !
Mr. Soli Sorabjee’s assertion that midnight drama of removing CBI Director Mr.Alok Verma raises suspicion proves Shakespeare’s universality true in the letter and spirit when in his famous play JULIUS CAESAR Shakespeare remarks,
” Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion” !
NaMo’s government’s this midnight drama is shrouded in deep suspicion and mysteries !
This CBI Number One- Number Two Tug Of War Tale will lead the polity to a new road not earlier on treaded unfolding new dimensions and paths for a better India !
Let us hope, for the nation this churning proves to be a blessing in disguise as it was long overdue for the cleaning exercise purposes !
Prof PK Sharma, Freelance Journalist
Pom Anm Nest,Barnala (Punjab)
One interpretation of midnight removal of the CBI Director can be: “he shouldn’t be the Director TOMORROW MORNING when the CBI office opens.”
Because if he was, he could “issue some orders or initiate some proceedings” which he as the Director was empowered to? Then the suspicion would point to something related to, possibly, Rafale? But this is just a layman’s guess. In other words, can a CBI Director not issue urgent orders after the office has closed for the day, like a court judge can?
The intrigue remains. This is real-life box office drama! Soli Sorabji was saying that government will have to prove that the Director’s removal was “in national interest”. Well the hasty removal was surely in national interest — it was drama and we Indians love drama!