With the process to find a successor to retiring CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla yet to be initiated, the government on Wednesday gave the charge of the premier investigating agency to its Additional Director Praveen Sinha, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer.
Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, retired on Wednesday.
According to the Department of Personnel and Training, 1988-batch IPS officer Sinha "shall with immediate effect look after the duties of Director CBI" in place of Shukla "till the appointment of new Director CBI, or until further orders, whichever is earlier".
A CBI Director, who has a fixed tenure of two years, is selected by a three-member panel headed by the Prime Minister, having Chief Justice of India and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha as its members.
However, the Selection Committee has not met yet and may take some time to finalise the CBI chief. The panel this time will choose the CBI Director from a panel of officers belonging to 1984-1987 batches of IPS officers on the basis of seniority, integrity and experience in handling vigilance and anti-corruption cases.
The process for choosing the agency chief starts with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and DoPT preparing a list of probable candidates in consultation with the Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC). This forms the basis of the Selection Committee's deliberations.
Among the contenders are NIA Director General Y C Modi, BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana and CISF Director General S K Jaiswal.
Shukla was appointed as CBI Director on February 4, 2019 after the then chief Alok Verma was removed by the government following a continuing spat with his deputy Asthana. Both were shifted out of CBI.
(Published 03 February 2021, 14:18 IST)
JOIN US