Has the Supreme Court played it safe in its order reinstating Alok Verma as CBI chief?

#QuestionsAbout The Supreme Court Tuesday backed CBI director Alok Verma in his plea against the Narendra Modi government’s decision to send him on leave and hand over his powers to another officer. In its decision, pronounced in open court by Justice S.K. Kaul, the bench reinstated Verma and thus ruled against the Centre’s move to divest him of his position last October. The court, however, restrained him from taking major policy decisions. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the bench and authored the judgment, was on leave Tuesday. The court said the high-level panel comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge will decide on Verma’s future. They have been asked to meet in a week. Read full article here: https://theprint.in/governance/sc-rei... The top court added that the intent of bringing the directions in its Vineet Narain judgment into the statute book was to ensure complete insulation of the CBI director’s office. The bench delivered its verdict on a batch of pleas filed by Verma and NGO Common Cause, barely 20 days before the former’s scheduled retirement on 31 January. The former Delhi Police Commissioner was appointed as the director of the premier probe agency in January 2017 for a two-year period. However, he was asked by the government to go on leave three months ago after a bitter feud between him and CBI No. 2, special director Rakesh Asthana. On 6 December, the court had reserved its verdict on Verma’s plea challenging his ouster and sending him on leave. It also heard a plea by Common Cause seeking a court-monitored special investigation team (SIT) probe against several CBI officials, including Asthana. Connect with ThePrint » Subscribe to ThePrint : http://bit.ly/SubscribeToThePrint » Like us on Facebook:   / theprintindia   » Tweet us on Twitter:   / theprintindia   » Follow us on Instagram:   / theprintindia   » Find us on LinkedIn :   / theprint