The Supreme Court order to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete its enquiry against CBI director Alok Verma in two weeks under monitoring by a retired apex court judge, Justice A K Pattnaik, is a classic show of even-handedness. Neither side can legitimately claim victory but the government’s decision to tell the CVC to adjudicate the contentious issue stands.
However, he will do so under the watchful eye of a retired Supreme Court judge. At the same time, the court has asked interim CBI director M Nageswara Rao to refrain from taking any policy decisions. Rao’s wings have been clipped in the interim period with his power restricted to taking routine administrative decisions. On balance, the decision of the three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi is pragmatic though a CVC inquiry being overseen by the retired judge betrays an avoidable lack of trust in the institution of CVC.
The open confrontation between the CBI director and additional director Asthana reflects poorly on the institution and the prime actors in the drama and has no precedent. Earlier, the government’s move to send both Verma and Asthana on leave came after the duo holding the top two positions in the CBI traded charges of official misconduct and corruption against each other. It is to be hoped that the final verdict would reflect fairplay and would be gracefully accepted by both sides. Washing dirty linen in public is hardly the way forward.
