Some of CBI appointments that have recently sparked a row

The CBI chief’s position has been vacant since February 3 when Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his tenure. Praveen Sinha has been working as the agency’s interim chief since then

A Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led committee on Monday finalised the names of four officers to head the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) even as Congress member of the panel, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, objected to the selection process. Chowdhury accused the government of adopting a “casual and superficial” approach and questioned the shortlisting process, HT reported on Tuesday.

CBI logo at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi. (File photo)

The CBI chief’s position has been vacant since February 3 when Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his tenure. Praveen Sinha has been working as the agency’s interim chief since then.

Here is a look at some of the CBI appointments that have recently sparked a row.

• Ranjit Sinha’s appointment as CBI chief in 2012 triggered a controversy as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that it be put on hold citing a Rajya Sabha panel’s recommendation that a collegium should make the selection. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal also questioned the “secretive manner” in which the government chose Sinha and called him a “tainted person”. The government maintained the selection was done in a “fair manner” following the “due process” and that the Prime Minister had the authority to decide on the matter. Sinha’s two-year term was marred by the controversy over entries in the visitors’ diary at his official residence that showed he had allegedly met suspects in the alleged 2G spectrum allocation and coal scams.

• Common Cause, an NGO, opposed Rakesh Asthana’s appointment as CBI’s Special Director in 2016. It moved the Supreme Court challenging the appointment, claiming it was illegal, mala fide as Asthana allegedly accepted favours from Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech and Sandesara Group of companies when he was Surat police commissioner in 2011. But the court dismissed the challenge to Asthana’s appointment. It said Asthana’s appointment cannot be struck on the basis of unverified diary entries against him. A fight between CBI director Alok Verma and his deputy, Asthana, also rocked the agency in 2019 and forced the government to divest them of their powers and send them on forced leave. In February 2020, the CBI exonerated Asthana in a criminal conspiracy and corruption against him filed in 2018.

• M Nageswara Rao was named CBI interim chief inOctober 2018until the appointment of a new director when Verma was removed as the agency’s chief. Common Cause and activist Anjali Bhardwaj moved the Supreme Court and sought a specific mechanism to ensure transparency in the CBI chief’s appointment. They alleged Rao’s appointment was not made on the recommendations of the selection committee. In their plea before the Supreme Court, the petitioners said: “In fact, it appears that the committee was completely bypassed and had no role in the appointment of Nageswara Rao, thereby rendering the appointment illegal as it is in violation of the procedure for appointment of Director, CBI.” The court dismissed the plea.

• Rishi Kumar Shukla was named the CBI director three days after chief minister Kamal Nath removed him as Madhya Pradesh police chief in February 2019. Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress member of the selection panel, sent a dissent note citing a Supreme Court judgment and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act that listed seniority, integrity, and experience in investigating corruption cases as prerequisites for the job of CBI director. He claimed that Shukla had no experience in anti-corruption cases. But the objection was overruled, and Shukla completed his tenure in February.