CVC, DoPT orders illegal and malafide, Mallikarjun Kharge joins CBI battle

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has joined the bandwagon of petitioners and applicants in the litigation surrounding the infighting within the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)..Kharge, who is part of the three-member Statutory Committee of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 (DSPE Act), has moved the Supreme Court as an Intervenor, challenging the Centre’s executive order of divesting the Director of the CBI, Alok Verma of his powers..“The Applicant constrained to move the instant application in overwhelming national and public interest to protect and maintain the institutional sanctity and integrity of India’s premier investigating agency i.e. the CBI”, states the application..Kharge’s application states that the actions of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking to divest powers from Alok Verma via their respective orders dated October 23 are “completely illegal, arbitrary, punitive, without jurisdiction and in the teeth of the judgment of this Hon’ble Court in Vineet Narain v. Union of India”..Further, the provisions of the DSPE Act, along with the directions in the Vineet Narain case, provide that the term and the tenure of the Director of the CBI are protected. Even a transfer of such an official cannot be effected without the prior permission of the Statutory Committee..In this application drawn by Advocates Devadatt Kamat, Rajesh Inamdar, Nizam Pasha, filed by Advocate Gautam Talukdar and settled by Senior Counsel and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Kharge has submitted that these orders are a “concerted attempt to impede the independent functioning of the Director, CBI.” He has also submitted that a meeting of the Selection Committee was not convened to deliberate on this question and that the “de-facto transfer/divesting of authority” is illegal and malafide..The executive order has negated the role of the Statutory Committee, the application states. Therefore, Kharge has prayed for the order of the CVC to be quashed.. Read Application: