Justice A.K. Sikri, on the 24th of January, withdrew his name from the hearing of the petition filed against the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao, the interim Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI.)
Recently, Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India (CJI,) also stepped down from the case filed against Mr. Rao’s appointment. Common Cause, a non governmental organisation (NGO,) filed the petition in the Supreme Court (SC,) challenging the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao. Activist Anjali Bhardwaj claimed, the process of the appointment is illegal and pled for a hearing.
Today’s hearing, which was supposed to be led by Justice A.K. Sikri, was cancelled after he withdrew his name.
Mr. Sikri said, “If it had been an administrative order, I would have refused and the case would have been listed before another Bench. It was a judicial order and I could have recused only when it came up today in court.”
The petitioners, angry with the move, said, “The high-powered committee is meeting today on a new CBI Director. Hearing this case tomorrow is too late. We wish you hear this case. We have no problem with you having participated in the earlier committee meeting to remove Alok Verma.”
The high powered Selection Committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge, the Indian National Congress leader, and CJI Ranjan Gogoi, is expected to meet, on the 24th of January, to discuss who the new CBI Director will be.
The Committee also removed Alok Verma, the former CBI Director, accusing him of bribery and corruption.
The next hearing for the petition filed against the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao is scheduled on the 25th of January.
Stay tuned for further updates about the story.
