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Panel to appoint CBI director can’t meet before May 2, says govt; then explains
The Centre, which explored the possibility of an early meeting of the CBI director’s selection committee, said Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury indicated that he would not be available before May 2
A top panel mandated to select a regular director for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will not be able to meet before May 2 due to the unavailability of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, an affidavit by the Centre in the Supreme Court has said, citing a letter from a senior official to the Centre’s top law officer KK Venugopal.
The top court, which is hearing a petition on the delay in appointment of a full-time CBI director, nudged the government earlier this month to hold the meeting before May 2. The CBI has been without a regular director after Rishi Kumar Shukla demitted office on February 2 after completing his two-year term. Presently, the premier investigating agency is headed by Interim director Pravin Sinha.
Under the law, the CBI director has to be appointed on the recommendation of a selection committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of the single largest Opposition Party in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or his nominee.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioner NGO ‘Common Cause’, had claimed during this hearing that the delay in holding the meeting was designed to “bypass” the present Chief Justice of India SA Bobde who is retiring on April 23.
The Centre had then rejected this charge and tasked Deepak Khandekar, secretary of the department of personnel and training (DoPT), to explore the possibility of holding a meeting before May 2.
In his letter to Attorney General Venugopal on Sunday, Deepak Khandekar said this didn’t work out.
“Undersigned Deepak Khandekar has contacted Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Leader of the single largest Opposition party in the House of People (Indian National Congress) and Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury informed that he will not be available till 2nd May 2021. Therefore, a meeting of the above said committee may be feasible to be convened only after 2nd May 2021, keeping in view the convenience of all the members of the aforesaid committee to be available to attend in person,” Khandekar’s April 18 letter said.
The letter did not explain why Chowdhury was unavailable. The Congress leader, who heads the West Bengal Congress and is playing a lead role in the Bengal assembly elections, could not be immediately contacted for his comments. Voting for the last of the 8-phase elections is scheduled on April 29; the results will be declared on May 2.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices L Nageswar Rao and S Ravindra Bhat was scheduled to hear the case on Monday but has put off the hearing to May 13. In its affidavit filed ahead of Monday's hearing, the Centre cited Khandekar's letter to KK Venugopal and underscored that Pravin Sinha, who was appointed interim director, was the senior-most police officer in the agency.
The petition filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan sought directions to the Centre to initiate and complete the process of selection of CBI Director and to ensure that such process is initiated at least one month prior to the post falling vacant.
The government had earlier told the top court that the meeting could not be held due to the ongoing state elections.
