CJI Ramana Rules Out Government’s Choice of Candidates for CBI Chief

On the choice of CBI Chief by government...learn more...

Tuesday, 25th May 2021

With the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana citing a rule of law from a previous Supreme Court judgement, two of the Centre’s top choices for the post of Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, got unceremoniously dropped.

The Chief Justice stated that officers who were left with less than six months in service before retirement, are not eligible for appointment as police chiefs.

The proclamation has immediately eliminated two of the government’s candidates for the post of CBI Director- YC Modi of Assam-Meghalaya cadre and Rakesh Asthana of the Gujarat cadre.

Both candidates were in the running for the post and according to reports were the frontrunners and trusted choices of the Narendra Modi government.

A three-member high-level selection committee headed by the Prime Minister met on Monday to weigh their choices for the position of CBI chief. Other members in the panel included CJI Ramana and Opposition leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

As per sources, during the course of the meeting, panel member and CJI Ramana put forward his argument that cited the 2019 Prakash Singh case and Supreme Court guideline for candidates in the running for police chief positions to have more than six months of service left before retirement. This instantly ruled out the two candidates.

With this, the CJI has also set a new precedent as, in previous instances, the guideline was only touched on for the post of DGPs of state police.

It is now seen that of the 109 officers who were in consideration for the post, only three have more than six months of service left before retirement.

The choices that the panel is left with as a result, are CISF chief Subodh Jaiswal, SSB DG KR Chandra, and Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) VSK Kaumudi.

Among the new list of eligible candidates, Jaiswal is the frontrunner, as per reports. He is the most senior of the three members and is due for retirement in September 2022. He has worked closely with the Centre as part of the R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing).

Kaumudi has the maximum time left in service with his retirement expected on November 30, 2022, while Chandra is due for retirement at the end of this year.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

NDTV