Rakesh Asthana's appointment as CBI special director challenged by NGO Common Cause in Supreme Court

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as a special director in the CBI. The petition, filed by NGO ‘Common Cause’, termed the decision to appoint Asthana as “illegal” and “arbitrary”. [caption id=“attachment_4166925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of IPS officer Rakesh Asthana. PTI[/caption] The plea, which is likely to come up for hearing next week, has claimed that the CBI was probing a matter in which Asthana’s name had cropped up. Demanding quashing of his appointment, it has sought a direction to the Centre to transfer him out of the agency during the pendency of the investigation. The plea, filed through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, has also urged the court to direct the government to produce the entire records relating to Asthana’s selection and appointment. The petition claimed that the government and the selection committee overruled the opinion of the CBI director in violation of the law. It said that the special director was the second highest office in the CBI after director and supervised almost all the important cases being handled by the agency.