A review petition was filed on Thursday by NGO Common Cause against the Supreme Court’s judgment dismissing its allegations against the appointment of Rakesh Asthana, senior IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre, as Special Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
In the last week of November, a Bench, led by Justice R.K. Agrawal, concluded that the court could not question the selection committee’s decision to appoint Mr. Asthana to the post.
‘New material’
In its review petition, Common Cause, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, said the judgment required to be reviewed in light of the discovery of new material in the form of a November 9 letter from the CVC to the CBI. “The CVC addressed a letter to the CBI on 09.11.2017 seeking further information on the Director’s note opposing the appointment of Respondent No. 2 [Mr. Asthana]. Thus, even 20 days after the selection committee meeting that recommended his promotion, the CVC was seeking further information about the role of Respondent No. 2,” the petition said.
The petition argued that the letter “goes to the root of the matter and shows that the CVC committee that recommended the promotion of Respondent No. 2 was not given a full opportunity to examine the nature of evidence against Respondent No. 2”.
