A host of issues has arisen as
the central government sets in motion the process of selecting a new and 28th
Director for the CBI. First and foremost is whether the
Centre will clear the appointment well in time or will there be a delay as it
happened in December 2016. It may be underlined that former CBI Director Anil
Kumar Sinha (1979 batch IPS) had completed his fixed tenure in the first week of December 2016
but the government had failed to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee
to appoint his successor, resulting in Rakesh Asthana being named Interim
Director. The second question emanates from
the current status as the Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on a plea by
CBI chief Alok Verma against the government’s decision to send him on a “forced
leaveâ€. The third question which has been
haunting the power corridors is whether the Centre will repeat its earlier
mistake of completely setting aside the experience of officers working with the
CBI while selecting the Director. It may be underlined that Rupak Datta
(IPS:1981: KN), having over one-and-a-half-decade long experience in CBI, was
abruptly shifted from CBI to MHA and Alok Verma was picked up despite his
comparative disadvantages of experience in the investigation of corruption
cases. It may be recalled that when
previous CBI Director Sinha had retired on 02 December 2016, the government had
failed to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee to appoint his
successor, resulting in Rakesh Asthana appointment as an Interim Director
beginning 03 December 2016. It was only after a PIL was filed in the Apex Court
that Alok Verma was, on 19 January 2017, selected and appointed the Director
and took over the charge on 01 February following the completion of ‘Beating
The Retreat’ 2017. Further, if the NaMo
administration sticks to its own best practices, one may hope that the
selection and appointment of Verma’s successor may be announced on or before 31
January 2019 - or before the Republic Day parade or after it. 
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Issues impacting selection of 28th Director of CBI
By IndianMandarins - 2019-01-07 10:36:53
A host of issues has arisen as
the central government sets in motion the process of selecting a new and 28th
Director for the CBI.
First and foremost is whether the Centre will clear the appointment well in time or will there be a delay as it happened in December 2016. It may be underlined that former CBI Director Anil Kumar Sinha (1979 batch IPS) had completed his fixed tenure in the first week of December 2016 but the government had failed to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee to appoint his successor, resulting in Rakesh Asthana being named Interim Director.
The second question emanates from the current status as the Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on a plea by CBI chief Alok Verma against the government’s decision to send him on a “forced leaveâ€.
The third question which has been haunting the power corridors is whether the Centre will repeat its earlier mistake of completely setting aside the experience of officers working with the CBI while selecting the Director. It may be underlined that Rupak Datta (IPS:1981: KN), having over one-and-a-half-decade long experience in CBI, was abruptly shifted from CBI to MHA and Alok Verma was picked up despite his comparative disadvantages of experience in the investigation of corruption cases.
It may be recalled that when previous CBI Director Sinha had retired on 02 December 2016, the government had failed to convene a meeting of the Selection Committee to appoint his successor, resulting in Rakesh Asthana appointment as an Interim Director beginning 03 December 2016. It was only after a PIL was filed in the Apex Court that Alok Verma was, on 19 January 2017, selected and appointed the Director and took over the charge on 01 February following the completion of ‘Beating The Retreat’ 2017.
Further, if the NaMo administration sticks to its own best practices, one may hope that the selection and appointment of Verma’s successor may be announced on or before 31 January 2019 - or before the Republic Day parade or after it.
