New Delhi: Supreme Court Judge AK Sikri, the CJI’s nominee on the high-powered panel that in a 2:1 majority vote removed Alok Verma as CBI chief, has rejected a post-retirement offer from the government, the consent for which he is reported to have given in December.
Sources say Sikri's consent was "taken orally for a vacancy" in the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT). CSAT is meant to decide service disputes between the employees of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Secretariat itself.
Sources say since his consent was taken in the first week of December 2018, it has no connection with the CBI matter for which he became the Chief Justice of India's nominee only in the last week (January, 2019).
According to sources, "a totally unjust controversy" has been raised by connecting the two.
According to sources, the consent was withdrawn Sunday evening when the judge wrote to the Law Ministry, seeking withdrawal of his consent.
Justice Sikri has informed the authorities not to press the matter further and reports further say that the judge has always made it known that post-retirement he will not accept any assignment on a regular basis.
"He (Justice Sikri) has withdrawn his consent, he has given no reasons. He just wanted to be away from the controversy," a source close to Justice Sikri said.
There was no reaction from either the Ministry of External Affairs or the Ministry of Law and Justice on it.
Justice Sikri was part of the three-member panel, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Congress leader Mallikajurn Kharge, which decided on removal of Verma from the post of CBI Director.
On Thursday, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge was the only person in the that three-member panel who opposed the move to sack Alok Verma, who was reinstated by the SC this very week.
Congress president Gandhi tagged the media report in a tweet, saying,"When the scales of justice are tampered with, anarchy reigns."
"This PM will stop at nothing, stoop to anything & destroy everything, to cover up the #RafaleScam. He's driven by fear. It's this fear that is making him corrupt & destroy key institutions," he said.
Hitting out at the government, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said the Centre has a "lot of explaining to do" on the nomination of Sikri to CSAT.
"The Government has a lot of explaining to do (sic)," Patel said in a tweet tagging a media report.
The Congress alleged that the government had much to “hide in the Rafale deal” and that had prompted the quick removal of Verma for a second time, after the apex court had restored his position.
The Congress also demanded that Alok Verma be reinstated after Justice AK Patnaik, who had supervised the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) report against the officer, called his removal “very hasty”.
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