Three days after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing a petition challenging the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao as the interim CBI director, Justice A.K. Sikri did the same on Thursday.
Chief Justice Gogoi had recused himself from hearing the petition against Rao's appointment on the grounds that he was part of the high-powered panel that would meet to select a new CBI chief on Thursday. Gogoi had listed the petition against Rao's appointment for a bench headed by Sikri.
Sikri was part of the high-powered panel, which also included Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, that decided to remove Alok Verma from the post of CBI chief on January 10. Sikri had been nominated to the panel that removed Verma after Gogoi recused himself from it.
The petitioners—an NGO Common Cause and RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj—had appealed for an early hearing of their plea against Rao's appointment, before the high-powered panel met to decide the next CBI chief on Thursday. Advocate Dushyant Dave expressed anguish at Sikri recusing himself, and reportedly observed, "An impression is being created that Supreme Court does not want to hear the matter.”
The petitioners argue that Rao was made interim CBI chief in violation of the procedure to select the head of the investigating agency.
Sikri landed in a controversy after the decision to remove Verma as media reports claimed he had accepted a position in a Commonwealth judicial tribunal, which he subsequently declined.
The plea against Rao's appointment will now be heard by a different bench on Friday.
