Consent is a must

The tug of war that has erupted between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government over the appointment of an additional director in the Central Bureau of Investigation is an indication that the ‘dirty tricks’ department of the UPA government remains active even though it is on its last legs.

That the CBI surreptitiously allowed a senior IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, Archana Ramasamudram, to take charge as an additional director without obtaining the concurrence of the state government smacks of arbitrariness and goes against the federal structure of the Constitution.

The Central government may have relied on the existing rules that in case of a dispute over deputation of an all-India cadre service officer, it has the final say in such matters, but the instant case clearly shows how the Centre manipulates the rules to meet its nefarious designs. The rule should be immediately changed to make it mandatory for the Centre to obtain the concurrence of the state governments concerned. In Archana’s case, her name for the CBI posting was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh in February, 2014 and the Centre had written to the state home secretary to relieve her to enable her to take up the new assignment. Considering that the model code of conduct during election was in force, the state government had not taken any decision on the request. As the election results are just a few days away, the matter could have been left to the new government. But last week, the CBI acted in complete haste and allowed Archana to take up the posting, forcing the Tamil Nadu government to suspend her from service.

When the matter went up before the Supreme Court following a PIL filed by journalist Vineet Narain, the shocking fact  emerged that Archana’s name did not even figure in the list recommended by the selection committee! As the CBI is inquiring into various scams of the UPA government, including the 2G spectrum allocation scandal, the outgoing regime was perhaps keen on putting someone ‘reliable’ in a key post before relinquishing office. The court has rightly held the appointment as ‘illegal’ and restrained the senior IPS officer from functioning as additional director of the CBI and posted the next hearing to January 14, 2015. It should serve as a lesson to future governments.