A high-powered committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Chief Justice of India Justice N.V. Ramana and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, met on Monday to finalise the choice of the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers — V.S. Kaumudi (1986 batch), Kumar Rajesh Chandra (1985) and Subodh Jaiswal (1985 batch) — have been shortlisted from a list of 109 officers that included four batches (1984-1987) of the IPS.
The meeting, that took place at the Prime Minister’s official residence, lasted for 90 minutes.
Chief Justice Ramana is learnt to have insisted on following the rule of law as per the various guidelines laid down in previous Supreme Court judgements. Mr. Chowdhury dissented over the selection procedure and submitted his dissent in writing, according to a source.
The source claimed that from the long list of over 100 officers, the government had sent the complete dossiers of 10 shortlisted names to the Opposition leader at around 1 p.m. in the afternoon. Another 6 names were sent barely two hours before the meeting.
These shortlisted names included Y..C. Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre who is currently the Director General of the National Investigation Agency and Rakesh Asthana, a Gujarat cadre officer heading the Border Security Force.
Both the officers are considered to be favourites of the ruling dispensation. Though their names were discussed in the meeting, the source said, they were not considered on technical grounds; an officer considered for the post of the CBI Director should not have less than six months for their retirement.
Justice Ramana insisted on sticking to the laid down rule, and the Prime Minister did not insist on any name, claimed the source.
Mr Chowdhury is learnt to have argued that the high powered committee should have done the shortlisting instead of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) and told the government “not to take the committee for granted”.
The post of CBI Director has been lying vacant since February 3 when Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his tenure. Additional Director Praveen Sinha, a 1988-batch officer, has been functioning as the interim chief of the premier agency.
The new CBI director will hold office for a period of not less than two years from the date on which he or she takes charge.