The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 19 February, disposed of a plea challenging the appointment of Nageshwar Rao as interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran said no further interference is required as the relief has already been granted with the appointment of a full-time CBI director.
The verdict came on a plea of NGO, Common Cause, which had challenged the appointment of Rao as interim CBI director.
The hearing was to be held on Monday, but was deferred by a day because of un-availability of Justice Arun Mishra, Bar and Bench had reported.
A writ petition filed by NGO Common Cause – represented by senior counsel Prashant Bhushan – had sought quashing of a central government order dated 10 January, which appointed Rao as the interim chief after the removal of Alok Verma.
The petitioner had said that the order to appoint Rao was "illegal, arbitrary, mala fide and in violation of the Delhi Police Special Establishment (DPSE) Act," and the apex court's 8 January judgment reinstating Verma as director.
The NGO had contended that the high-powered selection committee that appoints a CBI director was bypassed by the Union government, which had arbitrarily, without any jurisdiction, appointed Rao as interim director.
"The appointment of Nageshwar Rao as interim CBI director was apparently not made on the basis of recommendations of the high powered selection committee. The order dated 10 January 2019 states that the appointment committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Nageshwar Rao 'as per the earlier arrangements'.” the petition said.
"However, this earlier arrangement i.e. order dated 23 October 2018 making Rao the interim director, had been quashed by this court vide order dated 8 January 2019 as it was made in violation of the procedure for appointment of CBI director as defined in the DPSE Act," it added.
SC Held Rao Guilty of Contempt in a Separate Case
In a separate case, SC had on 12 February punished Rao and the agency’s legal advisor S Bhasuram by imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh each for contempt of court, PTI reported.
The apex court had held them guilty for wilfully disobeying its order by transferring CBI Joint Director AK Sharma, who was probing the Bihar shelter home sexual assault cases, to the post of additional director general of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on 17 January.
“In our considered view, it is a case where contempt has been committed by both the then acting CBI Director, MN Rao, and the director prosecution (of the agency),” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said.
IPS officer Rishi Kumar Shukla was appointed the full-fledged CBI director by the high-level committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shukla took charge of the agency on 4 February.
(With inputs from IANS, Bar & Bench and PTI)
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