Supreme Court Justice AK Sikri has recused himself from hearing the petition challenging the appointment of Nageswara Rao as the interim director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Earlier, the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had also withdrawn from the case stating that he was a part of the high-powered selection committee led by the Prime Minister set to select the next CBI chief. Justice Sikri replaced him in the selection committee.
After the controversial removal of Alok Verma as per government orders, Nageswara Rao had been appointed as the interim CBI chief by the Modi government on October 23 last year. A petition was filed by the NGO – Common Cause challenging Rao’s appointment. The petition pleaded that the process of shortlisting, selecting and appointing the CBI chief should remain a transparent process. In violation of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPE Act), the current appointment of Nageswara Rao has been described to be ‘illegal, arbitrary’ and ‘mala fide’ by the petition.
The move of Justice Sikri withdrawing from the case has been described to be sending out a ‘wrong message’ by the petitioner. The petitioner’s lawyer Dushant Dave further added that it seems like the court does not ‘want to hear the case’. While it acted with great promptness when it came to the removal of Alok Verma from office, when it comes to hearing the petition against the new appointment, the court does not seem ‘inclined to hear’, the petitioner’s lawyer said in court.
In response, Justice Sikri admitted that the plea had indeed raised ‘some important issues’ but it is not an ‘administrative order’ that was making him step away. It is a ‘judicial order’. He could recuse himself only once he learnt of it, Justice Sikri told the court.
