Kharge alleges Asthana’s CBI elevation ‘manipulated’
LETTER TO PM The Cong leader complains entire selection process has been ‘vitiated’ HIGH-RESOLUTION EYE IN THE SKY
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the government of “manipulating” the process of selecting the CBI director by appointing a junior officer to head the premier investigating agency.
The government did not name a full-time chief but ordered last week Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana to hold additional charge as CBI director after Anil Sinha retired on December 2.
Asthana, who supervised the initial investigation into the Godhra train burning incident when he was inspector general of police, Vadodara range, is said to be close to both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, both from Gujarat.
In a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Modi on Monday, Kharge said the government did The Congress leader said the government did not convene a meeting of the panel that approves the appointment of Rakesh Asthana (pic) as CBI director
Kharge was infuriated at the way the government foisted Asthana, who had joined the
CBI in April
not convene a meeting of the panel that approves the appointment of the CBI director.
The government circumvented this process by giving the 1984-batch officer additional charge. This ad hoc appointment is illegal, Kharge said.
The CBI chief is selected through a collegium comprising the PM, the Leader of Opposition Asthana’s appointment has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the plea on December 9
The Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, who supervised the initial probe into the Godhra incident, is said to be close to Modi, Shah
(LoP) or the largest party in opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India. Kharge is a panel member for being the LoP.
He alleged that the government “vitiated and manipulated the process to preempt the decision” to be arrived at the panel’s meeting. The CBI’s credibility demands that “a meritorious and experienced officer of requisite seniority” be appointed as its head, he said.
After the NDA government came to power in 2014, it refused to accord the LoP’s post citing that the Congress with 44 MPs did not meet the criteria — 10% of the strength of the 543-member Lok Sabha. However, it gave in following protests.
Sources said Kharge was infuriated at the way the government foisted Asthana, who had joined the CBI this April. He wasn’t even the senior-most officer when Sinha retired; 1981batch officer RK Dutta was.
“It now appears that this was done deliberately to facilitate giving the charge of the post of CBI director to an officiating junior officer,” Kharge wrote and asked Modi to convene a selection panel meeting immediately.
Asthana’s appointment has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the plea on December 9. KIRAN KUMAR, ISRO chairman 1,235-kg is RESOURCESAT2A’s weight RESOURCESAT-2A has a 3-tier imaging system 5 years is the mission life of remote sensing satellite RESOURCESAT-2A Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) provides images with a sampling of 56 m Linear Imaging Self Scanner-3 (LISS-3) provides 23.5 metre sampled images Linear Imaging Self Scanner-4 (LISS-4) provides 5.8 metre sampled images The satellite carries two Solid State Recorders with a capacity of 200 Giga Bits each to store images
2003 RESOURCESAT-1 2011 RESOURCESAT-2
The total number of satellites launched by PSLV, including RESOURCESAT-2A, of which 43 are Indian and the remaining 79 are from abroad.