Three Names Shortlisted for the Post of CBI Director

New Delhi: YC Modi of Assam-Meghalaya cadre and Rakesh Asthana of the Gujarat cadre, the two 1984-batch officers, are out of the post for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director.

The two candidates were dropped after Chief Justice of India N V Ramana cited a Supreme Court guideline on appointment of police chiefs.

"The apex court's guidelines in the Prakash Singh case of March 2019 made it clear that no officer with less than six months to retirement should be appointed as police chief," Ramana said. He was rather insistent on this point.

As per the sources, with Leader of the Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary supporting CJI Ramana's arguments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the rule of law would be followed in the selection.

While YC Modi retires at the end of this month, Asthana is currently heading the BSF, will retire in July. Both were known to be trusted by the Modi regime and served many years in the CBI.

The three choices made by the PM-led Selection Committee on Monday include –

• CISF Chief Subodh Jaiswal

• SSB DG KR Chandra

• Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) VSK Kaumudi

Out of the 109 officers whose list was given to the committee to chose from, the three aforementioned officers were the only centrally empanelled officers who had more than six months to retirement.

It is to be mentioned that Chandra will retire in December this year, Jaiswal is due for retirement in September 2022, and Kaumudi has the maximum time, with his retirement scheduled on November 30, 2022.

If the government considers seniority, Jaiswal is the senior-most among the three officers and could be the natural choice for the post. Having worked closely with the Centre as part of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) earlier, Jaiswal is seen as a frontrunner even though Kaumudi is the only one with prior experience of working in the CBI.

Sources said that the requirement of prior CBI experience is not a rule.

The IPS circle said CJI Ramana had set a new precedent in selection of CBI chief.

A senior security establishment officer said, "The Prakash Singh judgment was about appointment of DGPs of state police. CBI appointments are more guided by the Vineet Narain judgment, the CVC Act and the Lokpal Act. This could now spill over to appointments in the IB and R&AW, too, if the government weighs in CJI Ramana's point."

"We, therefore, clarify… that recommendation for appointment to the post of Director General of Police by the Union Public Service Commission and preparation of panel should be purely on the basis of merit from officers who have a minimum residual tenure of six months i.e., officers who have at least six months of service prior to the retirement," in March 2019, a bench headed by then CJI Ranjan Gogoi had said.

According to the reports, the bench passed the order on an application filed by the former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Prakash Singh. Singh had alleged that the July 3, 2018 directive of the apex court, asking UPSC to consider only those IPS officers for appointment as DGP who have two years of service left, was being misused by state governments who were ignoring competent senior officers.

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