Farm stir, budget session likely to delay selection of next CBI director

NEW DELHI: With just three days left for incumbent Rishi Kumar Shukla’s two-year tenure to end, the process of choosing the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to be delayed. The Centre is yet to call a meeting of the high-powered selection committee that chooses the chief of the country’s premier investigating agency, people familiar with the development said.

The selection committee, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has to decide the name of the next CBI director from among a panel of officers belonging to four batches – 1984 to 1987 – of the Indian Police Service (IPS) on the basis of seniority, integrity and experience in handling vigilance/anti-corruption cases.

Shukla’s two-year tenure as agency chief will end on February

3. He had joined the agency on February 4, 2019.

However, the panel is yet to take a call on the crucial meeting and people familiar with the process said on condition of anonymity that the government may take a few more weeks to scrutinize the record of eligible officers because it is caught up in the farmers’ protests against the three farm laws, the Covid-19 pandemic and the budget session of Parliament.

When contacted, Chowdhury confirmed to HT that he had not received any notice yet for the meeting to choose the CBI director. The Congress is the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.

The government is tightlipped over the process, but an official who didn’t want to be named, said at least 25-26 IPS officers from 1984 to 1987 batches are in the fray for the coveted job. As per procedure, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) and Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) will prepare a list of probables in consultation with the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) for the selection committee to consider.

Among the top contenders are 1984 batch officer of the Assammeghalaya cadre YC Modi (currently director general, or DG, of the National Investigation Agency); 1984 batch Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana (currently DG of the Border Security Force); 1985 batch Maharashtra cadre officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal (DG of the Central Industrial Security Force); 1985 batch UP cadre officer H C Awasthy (director general of police, or DGP, Uttar Pradesh); 1984 batch officer of Haryana cadre S S Deswal; and 1985 officer of Kerala cadre Loknath Behera (DGP, Kerala).

Meanwhile, in another development in the CBI, the agency’s former spokesperson, deputy superintendent of police R K Gaur, who retired in December 2020, has been re-employed in the agency for one year on contract to handle the media. He will report to additional director general-media R C Joshi.