The meeting of the high-powered selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to appoint the new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) ended inconclusively, with a shortlist of possibly 79 candidates left to be considered before taking the final call.
“The government does not want to take a chance this time, that’s why they have shortlisted as many as dozen officers,” a senior officer in the PM’s office told media. The meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s residence at Lok Kalyan Marg.
Attended by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, both of whom sought more information about the experience and competencies of the shortlisted officers, also urged that the panel reconvene as early as possible. The committee is expected to meet next week to make the final decision.
Selection process
Following the unprecedented removal of former CBI chief Alok Verma and his unceremonious and final ouster by the same committee this month, the post has been lying vacant with M Nageshwara Rao acting as the interim director.
The convention is to consider the four senior-most serving batches of the Indian Police Service (IPS), and there are around 80 officers in the 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985 batches according to Hindustan Times.
Among those whose names have been shortlisted include 1983 batch officer Shivanand Jha, who is serving as DGP Gujarat, BSF Director General Rajnikant Mishra, CISF Director General Rajesh Ranjan, Director General NIA YC Modi and Mumbai Police Commissioner Subodh Jaiswal.
“If the matter is stuck on seniority, then the government may go with Jha. PM knows him also as he only had appointed Jha as Commissioner of Police Ahmedabad,” a senior bureaucrat told NDTV.
The Print reported that Rina Mitra, a 1983-batch IPS officer serving as special secretary (internal security) with the Home Ministry after five years in the CBI, was only in the race. Others contenders are Y.C. Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, who is the current chief of the National Investigation Agency, and Javeed Ahmad, also of the 1984 batch, who is director of the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences.
Shortlist and longlist
Sources close to the development further told HT that two lists were drawn up, one with 19 names and the other with 60, after Kharge demanded that detailed background information of each officer be made available for the committee’s perusal. Modi reportedly agreed that this should be made available.
The list prepared by the government only mentioned basic details such as date of birth, date of appointment in the IPS, batch, and date of retirement. Details of their past experience, postings other crucial information were allegedly not present on the lists which Kharge was quick to point out.
People familiar with the development said on the condition of anonymity, that Verma’s Rakesh Asthana’s name was in the list of 60 candidates.
Political slugfest
After a bitter feud with Verma, who charges of corruption against him, Asthana too was laid off the CBI although he is now serving as the head of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
His appointment to the agency as its Special Director too had also been a controversial one. But last year, his involvement in a high-profile money laundering case came under massive scrutiny after witnesses in the case claimed he had extorted and accepted bribes from several of the accused.
While Asthana was getting charge-sheeted, he implicated his boss with similar allegations of corruption which followed their ousters in October.
Precarious future of the agency
Two months after Verma moved Supreme Court against the centre’s decision to remove him, the apex court reinstated him as the CBI chief on January 9, leaving it to the select committee to take a final call on his career in the CBI. In yet another controversial 2:1 vote (only Kharge voted in his favour), Verma was ousted from the agency, this time for good.
He was offered a less significant portfolio in the Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards department thereafter, which he immediately turned down. But this entire fiasco has the opposition on tenterhooks with regard to the government’s ulterior plans about the future of the investigation agency, which is currently probing numerous high-stakes cases.
The Congress is intent on following the criteria laid down for selecting the head of the federal investigation agency to the T. Spokespersons of the party specifically mentioned this week that it was crucial to ensure that the new chief does not share a history of bias towards the BJP.
The government has reportedly shortlisted candidates based on their seniority, integrity, experience in probing anti-corruption cases and most importantly, their experience of working in the CBI or handling vigilance matters.
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius