New Delhi, Jan. 23: The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre on a public interest litigation challenging the validity of the “single directive” in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act. The directive mandates that the CBI has to seek prior permission from the government to investigate corruption cases against bureaucrats in the rank of joint secretary and above.

Under the “single directive”, even a bank manager cannot be investigated by the CBI without permission from the finance ministry.

It was brought as an ordinance during P. Chidambaram’s tenure as Union finance minister from 1996-98 amid allegations that his erstwhile party, the Tamil Maanila Congress, had obtained huge loans from the Indian Bank which were wiped off by the then chairman and managing director of the bank, M. Gopalakrishnan. Following a CBI chargesheet, Gopalakrishnan had served a jail term.

However, when the Centre under the BJP brought the CVC Act, “single directive” was included as a provision.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice V.. Khare and Justices S.B. Sinha and S.H. Kapadia, which issued the notice, directed the Centre to file its reply within four weeks.

Amicus curiae Anil Baburao Divan wanted the court to suspend the operation of the “single directive” till the matter was disposed of, but it was not granted.

Attorney-general Soli Sorabjee vehemently opposed a stay contending that “heavens won’t fall” if it was not granted.

The matter was brought before the court by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, whose counsel Prashant Bhushan contended that sub-section (c) of Section 26 of the CVC Act should be struck down as it was “violative of fundamental rights of citizens and derogative of the rule of law”.

Bhushan also cited the Vineet Narain (Jain hawala) case in which “single directive” was quashed by the apex court.