Senior advocate Fali S Nariman will be representing CBI Director Alok Verma at the Supreme Court – whose powers have been divested by the central government. The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph will on Friday hear the petition filed by Verma, who has challenged his removal passed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Senior advocate Fali S Nariman will be representing CBI Director Alok Verma at the Supreme Court – whose powers have been divested by the central government. The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph will on Friday hear the petition filed by Verma, who has challenged his removal passed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Nariman, the country’s top constitutional expert, will argue for Verma, who in his petition has pointed out “that there are bound to be occasions when certain investigations into high functionaries do not take the direction that may be desirable to the Government”.
Verma, in his plea, has said the decision to divest him of his powers were “patently illegal”. The CBI Director, he said, has a fixed tenure of two years and was appointed by a high-powered committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India, and “previous consent” of the committee is needed for his “transfer”. “The exercise of power by the impugned orders has been to bypass the mandate of the Committee,” he said.
Nariman, the country’s top constitutional expert, will argue for Verma, who in his petition has pointed out “that there are bound to be occasions when certain investigations into high functionaries do not take the direction that may be desirable to the Government”.
Verma, in his plea, has said the decision to divest him of his powers were “patently illegal”. The CBI Director, he said, has a fixed tenure of two years and was appointed by a high-powered committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India, and “previous consent” of the committee is needed for his “transfer”. “The exercise of power by the impugned orders has been to bypass the mandate of the Committee,” he said.