Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India (CJI,) on Wednesday, stepped down from the high level Selection Committee which will take the final decision regarding the Alok Verma case. He nominated Justice A.K. Sikri to be the third member of the Selection Committee.
Ranjan Gogoi withdrew his name from the Committee as he was a part of the bench which, in October, removed Alok Verma as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director and reinstated him as the same, yesterday. Mr. Gogoi nominated Justice A.K. Sikri to be one of the members of the Selection Committee. The other members of the Committee are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge, the opposition Party (the Congress) leader.
The Selection Committee will meet, today, around 8:00 P.M., at the Lok Kalyan Marg, Delhi. All the three members will decide whether Alok Verma will retain his power or not. Since Mallikarjun Kharge opposed the decision of the Government, A.K. Sikri’s decision will be the tiebreaker.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court gave a verdict and rested the decision regarding the case upon the Selection Committee. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph announced the judgement and reinstated Alok Verma as the director of the CBI. However, the Supreme Court restricted Alok Verma from taking major policy decisions.
The dispute started when the topmost officers of the CBI, Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana, the Special Director of the CBI, accused each other of bribery and corruption.
