Justice Ramana, a Supreme Court (SC) Judge, on the 31st of January, declined to hear M. Nageswara Rao’s appointment case.
Justice Ramana withdrew his name from the bench scheduled to hear Rao’s case regarding his appointment as the interim Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI.) After Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India (CJI,) and Justice A.K. Sikri, Justice Ramana is the third Supreme Court (SC) Judge to step down from the case.
Justice Ramana cited his personal relationship with Mr. Rao as the reason for excusing himself from the case. He said, “Nageswara Rao is from my home state and I have attended his daughter’s wedding.”
The Supreme Court bench which was due to hear the petition comprised of Justice N.V. Ramana, Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and Justice Indira Banerjee.
Dushyant Dave, a senior advocate who is representing the petitioner, Common Cause, a non governmental organisation, requested Justice Ramana to ask CJI Gogoi to constitute another bench to hear the petition. Common Cause, on the 14th of January, filed a petition against the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao as the interim CBI Director and claimed, the appointment process was illegal.
Mr. Dave said, “Please request the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi to constitute a bench for early hearing of the case.” In response to Dushyant Dave’s request, Justice Ramana said, “How can I request the CJI? It is for the registry to list the petition.”
Dushyant Dave claimed, the decision of the SC is sending wrong signals as it conveys the SC doesn’t want to hear the case.
The Prime Minister led Selection Committee is looking for a new CBI Director after the removal of Alok Verma.
The Selection Committee is constituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the Indian National Congress (INC,) and Ranjan Gogoi. After several meetings, the panel finalised 12 candidates for the post of the CBI Director. Among these 12 candidates, the four strongest contenders are Rina Mitra, Y.C. Modi, Parminder Rai and Tirth Raj.
Stay tuned for further updates.
