NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) filed its preliminary inquiry report on CBI director Alok Kumar Verma in the Supreme Court at the last minute on Monday. Verma, who faces allegations of corruption, has been divested of his duties and sent on leave.
The delay in filing the report prompted the judges to defer the case to Friday.The court had earlier given the CVC two weeks to submit the report, which ended on Sunday.
When it was filed only during Monday’s hearing, in three volumes in a sealed cover, the bench, led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, told the government it was late.
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The judges added that they kept the court’s registry open on Sunday and had the registrar waiting for the report till 11.30 am. If submitted on time, the judges would have had the time to go through the enquiry report, but the delay forced them to adjourn the case.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, said there was a delay of just an hour in filing the report.
Acting CBI director M Nageswara Rao also filed in a sealed cover the decisions taken by him from October 23 to 26. A court took both reports on record and fixed the matter for further hearing on November 16.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the NGO ‘Common Cause’, hit out at the CVC, saying they opened their offices at 2 am on October 23 to pass orders against the CBI director, but could not file their report on time in court. He claimed before the bench that despite the apex court order, the acting CBI director was continuing to take important decisions.