Narendra Modi-led committee to appoint new CBI chief on 24 Jan; IPS officers from 1983-1985 batches being considered

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Selection Committee will meet on 24 January to appoint a new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief after Alok Verma’s removal from the post last week. Besides Modi, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge are other members of the panel. [caption id=“attachment_5440251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] According to The Times of India, the IPS officers from 1983-1985 batches are being considered for the CBI director post. The front-runners include DG BSF Rajni Kant Mishra, NIA chief YC Modi, CISF DG Rajesh Ranjan and DGP Uttar Pradesh OP Singh. According to the Tribune, Mumbai Police Commissioner Subodh Kumar Jaiswal is another front-runner for the top CBI post, while Kerala Police chief Loknath Behera and Special Secretary (Internal Security) Rina Mitra are also being considered. The newspaper also said that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had expedited the process to shortlist three names for placing them before the PM-led panel. The Congress has been attacking the prime minister for not appointing a regular CBI director. Kharge had also written to the prime minister demanding a meeting of the selection committee to appoint a regular CBI director. The government had proposed to hold the meeting on 21 January but was shifted to 24 January upon Kharge’s request, PTI quoted sources as saying. Referring to IPS officer M Nageswara Rao’s appointment as the interim director of the CBI after Verma’s removal, Kharge had earlier said that the agency cannot be run by an interim director, whose appointment he termed as “illegal”. The post of CBI chief has been lying vacant ever since Verma was removed as CBI director and further appointed as the Director General Fire Service in a meeting of the selection committee on 10 January, in which Kharge gave his dissent. Verma was ousted within 48 hours after the Supreme Court reinstated him. Kharge had opposed the removal of Verma and instead demanded that he be compensated as the government removed him from the post for 77 days and thus be given an extension. With inputs from PTI