Supreme Court judge Justice AK Sikri on Sunday withdrew his consent to a government offer to nominate him for the post of president/member to the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT).
According to the sources, Sikri communicated to the government on Sunday expressing his withdrawal of consent after news broke out over his nomination to the post.
Justice Sikri was asked by the government in December last year about his inclination to hold the post after his retirement on March 6. He had then agreed.
He wrote a letter to the competent authority in the government withdrawing his consent.
Sources close to Justice Sikri said, “he has withdrawn his consent, as he wanted to be away from the controversy.”
Justice Sikri was nominated to the three-member selection panel by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the Bench which delivered the ruling on Alok Verma’s reinstatement.
Justice Sikri was part of the high-powered Selection Committee including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge that on Thursday decided 2:1 to remove CBI chief Aok Verma from the post. Kharge however, gave a dissent note and opposed Verma’s removal.
Justice Sikri was sworn in as a Supreme Court judge in 2013. He had earlier served as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
