Jaitley advises caution in high post appointments

CBI Director Ranjit Sinha on Friday showed no signs of quitting his post or going on leave as he attended an official meeting chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The minister had earlier in the day said governments should be careful while making appointments to high posts.

Sinha, who found himself on the wrong side of Supreme Court that asked him to recuse from the 2G spectrum scam probe, was present in a meeting of chiefs of economic investigating agencies with Jaitley, which triggered speculation that the government might have asked him to go on leave.

The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, discussed issues like economic crimes, collection of intelligence and procedural hurdles in bringing back black money.

At a separate function, Jaitley said governments should be extremely careful while making appointments to such high posts.

“You have to look at the legal regime. I was looking at the law that applies whether it’s a gap in law or otherwise. We have to seriously examine who has the powers to do that because the collegium is the new appointing authority,” Jaitley told the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.His response came when asked about whether the government would ask Sinha to step down.

Jailtey said Sinha was appointed by the previous UPA regime just a day before a Parliament select committee report on Lokpal Bill that provided for the procedure of such appointment was to be tabled in Rajya Sabha.