A high-powered selection committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met on Thursday to appoint a new director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) but no name emerged.
The panel, which also comprises Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, discussed around a dozen top IPS officers but could not come to a consensus. After the meeting, Kharge said that he needs more time to check the potential of the candidates.
The meeting comes two weeks after Alok Kumar Verma was dislodged as CBI Director by the committee in a 2:1 majority verdict. The panel was against Verma's continuance in light of the "extremely serious nature of observations made by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) against Verma". The panel also appointed M Nageswara Rao as CBI interim director.
Based on seniority, integrity, experience in probing anti-corruption cases and most importantly, their experience of working in the CBI or handling vigilance matters, the government shortlisted 12 candidates.
These include 1983 batch officer Shivanand Jha, currently DGP Gujarat; BSF Director General Rajnikant Mishra, CISF Director General Rajesh Ranjan, Director General NIA YC Modi and Mumbai Police Commissioner Subodh Jaiswal.
Meanwhile, a PIL challenging the appointment of the interim CBI Director M Nageshwar Rao was adjourned in the Supreme Court. For the second time in a row, the judge refused to hear the case.
On Thursday, the PIL filed by NGO Common Cause came up before a bench headed by Justice AK Sikri. Justice Sikri expressed his inability to hear the matter due to his participation in the previous Selection Committee meeting. He was nominated by CJI Gogoi to participate in January 17 meeting where marching orders were issued to Verma.
Appearing for the NGO, senior advocate Dushyant Dave argued that the manner required to be heard urgently as nothing will survive once the next CBI director is named. According to him, the government can not bypass the selection committee to appoint the interim director as well. Early this week, CJI Gogoi refused to hear the matter as he was part of the committee too.
Frustrated by repeated adjournments, Dave said that an impression is being given that the top court does not want to take up the matter.
Justice Sikri assured Dave that he could not have conveyed his inability earlier as the matter was listed before him by an order issued by CJI, while sitting on the judicial side. He said that the petition did raise substantial and interesting questions of law and that he would love to hear it. However, he asked Dave to understand his predicament. The Court listed the matter for hearing next week.