NOT GOOD TO HAVE INTERIM APPOINTMENT FOR LONG PERIOD: SC ON CBI CHIEF ROW

The Supreme Court on Friday disapproved the idea of having an interim director for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and said it was “averse” to such an appointment given the sensitive nature of the post. “It is not good to have an interim CBI director for a long period. It is a sensitive post,” a bench led by justice Arun Mishra observed while hearing a petition challenging the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the interim director of the country’s premier investigative agency. A meeting of the committee to select the next CBI chief remained inconclusive on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday disapproved the idea of having an interim CBI director and said it was “averse” to such an appointment given the sensitive nature of the post.

“It is not good to have an interim CBI director for a long period. It is a sensitive post. Interim director cannot continue for so long. It’s ok if the arrangement is for seven, 10 or 15 days,” a bench led by justice Arun Mishra observed while hearing a petition challenging the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as interim CBI director.

The bench, also comprising justice Naveen Sinha, expressed its reservation over the temporary arrangement even as Attorney General KK Venugopal defended the same and said the process to select a new chief had already started and that the high-powered panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was likely to meet on Friday evening to hold deliberations over probable candidates.

The Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge comprise the threemember panel to select the CBI director.

Venugopal said the committee had already met once but could not reach a conclusion as Kharge asked for more information on the empanelled candidates. He placed before the bench minutes of the selection panel’s January 24 meeting.

The court said the government should have started looking for a new CBI director in October itself since the old one (Alok Verma) was due to retire on January 31.

Venugopal, however, referred to the tussle between Verma and his deputy as the reason for the government not proceeding with the selection process.

Justice Mishra then commented: “They were not fighting in public but were levelling corruption charges against each other. This was wholly unbecoming of CBI officers. This shows how CBI is functioning...