A non-profit organisation moved the Supreme Court on Monday, accusing the NDA government of violating its guidelines on the appointment of the CBI director and seeking quashing of its decision to nominate Gujarat cadre IPS officer, Rakesh Asthana, as interim director of the central investigating agency.
The petition, filed by Common Cause through counsel Pranav Sachdeva, submitted the appointment was also against the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act of 2013 that mandates the director shall be appointed on the recommendation of a Prime Minister-headed committee comprising the leader of opposition (LoP) and the Chief Justice of India or any judge of Supreme Court nominated by him.
If there is no LoP, the leader of the single largest opposition party shall be included in the said committee. At present there is no LoP. The matter is likely to be listed for hearing this week though no date has been fixed. It will be argued by Prashant Bhushan.