Justice R.M. Lodha, who had called the CBI a “caged parrot”, has become the latest former Chief Justice of India to suggest Alok Verma should have been heard before a selection panel removed him as CBI director.

Citing a statutory provision and a Supreme Court statement, Justice Lodha told The Telegraph from Mumbai on Tuesday: “He (Verma) needs to be heard. Ordinarily, he should be heard. Principles of natural justice deserved to be followed.”

On January 8, while referring the allegations of corruption against Verma to the selection committee chaired by the Prime Minister, the Supreme Court had said: “Our interference… will now require the matter to be considered by the committee under Section 4A(1) of the DSPE Act, 1946, which may be so done at the earliest and, in any case, within a week from the date of this order. A meeting of the committee may be accordingly convened by the competent authority.” (The DSPE Act or the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act governs the CBI.)

Justice Lodha explained that since the statutory provisions relating to the DSPE Act mandate that the committee alone had the power to remove Verma after examining the allegations against him, Verma should have been given an opportunity to present his views.

“Because, ultimately, they were taking action under statutory provisions, whatever material they have… the person ought to be informed and his view should have been taken,” Justice Lodha added.

Another former Chief Justice of India, Justice T.S. Thakur, had told this newspaper on Saturday that Verma should have been given an opportunity by the committee to explain before he was removed. If he was not heard, it amounted to a violation of the principles of natural justice, Justice Thakur had said.

Verma had said in a letter through which he refused to accept a consolation post that he was not given an opportunity to present his case before the committee that deposed him in a 2:1 decision.

Justice Lodha said he was not aware whether the selection committee had all the requisite materials before it. “Ordinarily, we believe all the materials, including the report of Justice A.K. Patnaik (who supervised the central vigilance commissioner’s probe against Verma) was before the committee,” Justice Lodha said.

On May 8, 2013, Justice Lodha, while heading a three-judge bench dealing with the coal block allocation case, had described the CBI as a “caged parrot”.

Asked if he still believed that the CBI was a caged parrot, Justice Lodha, who became Chief Justice in 2014, said on Tuesday: “Caged parrot! That continues. There is no independence for CBI. That problem continues. The political-executive interference is there every time.”