The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 8 January, set aside the Centre's 23 October decision divesting CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma of his powers and sending him on leave.
One of the first ones to welcome the judgment was the Congress party, that tweeted, "We welcome the Supreme Court's verdict lambasting the govt. against their illegal removal of Alok Verma as CBI Director. The SC has reinstated Alok Verma as director."
Delhi Chief Minister joined the league and said in a tweet that the verdict is a "direct indictment of the PM." Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that the latter has "ruined all institutions and democracy in our country."
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The Centre had taken the decision against Verma and CBI's Special Director Rakesh Asthana after their feud had become public as they leveled allegations of corruption against each other.
Senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala also attacked the Prime Minister and mocked him in a series of tweets.
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"After being the first PM to be exposed destroying the #CBI before the SC, After having ruined CVC’s credibility (requiring supervision by former SC judge), Mr. Modi has now become 1st PM to have his illegal orders set aside by the SC, (sic)" Surjewala tweeted.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal also joined the fray and said that the midnight operation to remove CBI Director had an objective, and it was to not let Alok Verma function. “The operation failed, the decision of both Centre and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was held unconstitutional by SC,” he added.
In its order, the top court restrained Verma from taking any major policy decisions till the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) inquiry into corruption charges against him is over.
The Supreme Court also said that any further decision against Verma would be taken by the high-powered committee which selects and appoints the CBI Director.
It said the high-powered committee will take its decision on the basis of the findings of the CVC inquiry. The meeting of the committee should be convened within a week, the apex court said.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also took to Twitter to welcome the decision and hit out against vendetta politics by Central government.
"Time for the Central gov to stop misusing its influence to arm twist investigative agencies like NIA & CBI for political vendetta.(sic)"
Meanwhile, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan tweeted that, though, Verma does not have power to take policy decisions, he can do "that will not prevent him from ordering registration of FIRs & dealing with investigations".
The court also set aside the Centre's decision to appoint senior IPS officer M Nageswara Rao, who was the Joint Director, as the interim chief of the agency.
By the verdict, the apex court has set aside the Centre's decision of 23 October divesting Verma of his powers as CBI chief and sending him on leave.
The judgment on Tuesday was penned by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. However, the CJI didn't attend the court and the judgment was pronounced by Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph. Verma's two-year tenure as CBI Director ends on 31 January.
(With inputs from PTI)
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