Congress member and Leader of the Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was part of a committee meeting to select the next CBI chief, raised objections over the “casual approach” in shortlisting the candidates for the top post.
New Delhi: A meeting to select the next chief of the CBI was attended by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Leader of the Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s house on Monday with the powerful panel shortlisting three candidates.
However, Mr Chowdhury, in a dissent note, soon raised objections over the selection process and said the department of personnel and training had followed a “casual approach” in choosing the names of the candidates for the post of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief.
“The way the procedure was followed, it was in conflict of the mandate of the committee. On May 11, I was given 109 names… and today by 1 pm, 10 names were shortlisted while by 4 pm, six names were shortlisted. This casual approach of the department of personnel and training is highly objectionable,” the Congress leader said.
The committee headed by PM Modi is considering Indian Police Service (IPS) officers from four senior-most batches (1984-87) to be the next CBI chief.
Maharashtra Director General Of Police Subodh Kumar, Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) KR Chandra and Special Secretary (Internal Security) at home affairs ministry VSK Kaumudi were shortlisted for the post in the meeting on Monday.
The meeting of the top panel, which lasted for more than 90 minutes, finally took place after being delayed for nearly four months.
In total, over 100 officers from the 1984-87 batches were considered by the committee.
The law says the committee will select the CBI director “on the basis of seniority, integrity and experience in the investigation of anti-corruption cases” from a list of IPS officers drawn from the four senior-most batches.
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The officer selected as CBI director will hold office for a period of not less than two years from the date on which he or she takes charge.
After completing two years, RK Shukla retired as CBI director in February this year. The senior-most Additional Director in the CBI, Praveen Sinha, has been working as CBI Director till the appointment of full-time chief.
