New Delhi, February 2: The government on Saturday appointed former Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Rishi Kumar Shukla as new Director of CBI. He succeeds Alok Kumar Verma, who was removed from the post on January 10.
Apart from PM Narendra Modi, the selection panel comprised Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
Kharge has sent dissent note on appointment of new CBI director. He said officers without relevant experience of handling corruption cases shouldn’t have been considered for CBI director’s post.
Kharge said the decision of the committee goes against the spirit of CBI Act and the SC judgment governing the selection of CBI chief. He said both stress seniority, integrity and experience in anti-corruption cases.
He gave a list of three candidates who are better qualified for the post as per CBI Act and SC judgment on the matter.
The Congress leader’s panel of eligible officers had 1984 UP-cadre officer Javed Ahmed on top.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge wanted to manipulate CBI chief selection criteria. Kharge wanted to include officers of his choice in short-list, Singh added.
According to an order issued by Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) on the recommendation of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led panel has approved the appointment of Rishi Kumar Shukla, a 1983-batch Madhya Pradesh-cadre IPS officer as Director, CBI, for a fixed tenure of two years.
Shukla is currently holding the post of Chairman, Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation.
Shukla has been appointed in place of Alok Kumar Verma, who was removed from the post of CBI Director on January 10.
The appointment comes following two meeting of the PM-led selection committee held on January 24 and February 1.
Shukla’s name was short-listed during the second meeting of the selection committee held on Friday.
The development assumes significance as on Friday, the Supreme Court had said it was “averse” to the arrangement of an interim CBI Director and the Centre should “immediately” appoint a regular chief of the probe agency.
The post of CBI Director is “sensitive” and “important”, and it is not good to keep an interim director of the agency for longer period, the top court observed and sought to know as to why the government has not made the appointment yet.
The post of the CBI chief has been lying vacant since January 10 after the unceremonious exit of Verma, who had been engaged in a bitter fight with Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana over corruption charges.
Both Verma and Asthana had accused each other of corruption.
M Nageswara Rao has been working as the interim CBI chief after Verma’s ouster.
Friday’s meeting was held at the prime minister’s residence-that lasted for over an hour-and attended by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha.
Verma, after being removed from the post of CBI director by the PM-led panel, was named as the Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards-a less significant portfolio.
Verma did not accept the offer and wrote to the government, saying he should be considered as deemed superannuated as he had completed 60 years age of superannuation on July 31, 2017.
He had taken over as the CBI chief on February 1, 2017 for a fixed two-year tenure that ended Thursday.
Sourced from tribuneindia.com
