New Delhi: Chief Justice of India N V Ramana reportedly cited a rule during a three-member panel meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to select a new Director for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that ruled out two names being considered by the government for the post.
According to reports, the high-powered selection panel of PM, the Chief Justice and opposition leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, after almost 90 minute meeting, zeroed in on three names – former Maharashtra Director General Of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) KR Chandra and Home Ministry Special Secretary VSK Kaumudi.
During the discussions, as per reports, Chief Justice Ramana raised a ‘six-month rule’ that has never been cited before in the selection of a CBI Director.
The Chief Justice of India referred to a Supreme Court judgement that had said officers with less than six months left in service should not be considered for police chief posts. The CJI stressed that the selection panel must comply with the law, reports said.
Therefore, it has eliminated Rakesh Asthana, the Border Security Force chief retiring on 31 August, and National Investigation Agency chief Y C Modi, retiring on 31 May – the two names which have been at the top of the heap in the government’s shortlist.
The only three names now being considered by the panel are former Maharashtra DGP Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) K R Chandra, and Home Ministry special secretary VSK Kaumudi. Jaiswal, the senior-most, is reportedly the frontrunner.