SC may hear Common Cause and CBI chief Alok Verma's petitions together on Friday

The Supreme Court is likely to hear the petitions of Central Bureau Investigation Director Alok Verma and NGO Common Cause challenging the Centre's decision to send the former on leave and appointing M Nageswara Rao as the interim chief of the agency together on Friday. Verma and Common Cause have filed two separate petitions before the apex court after the former, CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana and CBI Additional Director AK Sharma were sent on leave following an internecine feud in the top investigative agency and M Nageshwar Rao, the current Joint Director, named as the interim head.

Sources say Attorney General KK Venugopal will represent Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta will represent the Central Vigilance Commission in the Supreme court on Friday during the hearing.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhusan will represent Common Cause. Bhusan has also argued that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) should probe the charges of corruption levelled against Asthan and other CBI officers. 

While filing the petition on Wednesday, Verma's lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan claimed that the Centre's decision to send his client on leave is likely to comprise the investigation into many sensitive cases. The CBI director position has fixed term of two years. Verma is scheduled to retire after four months in January 2019.

A group of 13 officers working closely with the top three CBI bosses have also been transferred.

Rao's appointment order was issued by the Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on late Tuesday night.

The unprecedented move came after Asthana moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of FIR filed by the CBI against him and Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Kumar. The CBI had claimed that Kumar was part of an extortion racket being run in the array of an investigation. Kumar was arrested on Monday evening and was sent to a seven-day CBI custody for questioning.

The CBI had filed an FIR against Asthana for allegedly accepting the bribe from a businessman, who was trying to get relief in the Moin Akhtar Qureshi case.