The meeting comprising Modi, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Congress Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at the PM’s 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence around 6.30pm on Monday and lasted around 90 minutes.
A three-member committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi finalised the names of senior officers to become the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) but Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury strongly objected to the selection process, officials aware of developments said on Monday.
The meeting — comprising Modi, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Congress Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — started at the PM’s 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence around 6.30pm on Monday and lasted around 90 minutes.
The panel finalised the names of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) director general (DG) Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) director general Kumar Rajesh Chandra and special secretary, internal security in the Union home ministry VSK Kaumudi, said the officials quoted above.
The name of Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Hitesh Chandra Awasthi was also discussed, added the officials.
One of these four officers will be appointed for the coveted post and an order will be issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) shortly, said a person familiar with the process.
The position of CBI chief has been lying vacant since February 3, when Rishi Kumar Shukla completed his tenure. Praveen Sinha has been working as interim chief of the premier agency since then.
After the meeting, Chowdhury accused the government of adopting a “casual and superficial” approach and questioned the shortlisting process, saying it was in conflict with the mandate of the selection committee.
“I have raised objections on the procedural lapses. It is the mandate of the selection committee to omit or include names of candidates for the post, then how can the DoPT (department of personnel and training) do such shortlisting,” he said.
Chowdhary alleged that 109 names were first sent to him at 1 pm on Monday without any details of their work experience. At 4.30pm, a list of 10 names were sent to him and later six more names were added, he alleged.
“The DoPT should not adopt a casual and superficial approach in the selection process,” Chowdhury said, adding that it was up to the committee to select or omit names of probables.
A Congress leader said Chowdhury suggested the meeting be deferred. But as other members of the panel didn’t want to postpose it, Chowdhury offered to give his note of disagreement, the Congress leader added.
Earlier this month, a list of over 100 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers from 1984 to 1987 batches was given to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after clearance by home ministry and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), said an officer on condition of anonymity.
Jaiswal, a 1985-batch IPS officer, is a former Maharashtra director general of police. He is at present the director general of CISF.
Kaumudi, a 1986-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, has earlier worked in CBI as superintendent of police (SP) Delhi and Patna.
He was also additional DG in the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He headed the Jammu and Kashmir Zone of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and currently heads the apex police research body Bureau of Police Research and Development. In his stint in Andhra Pradesh Police, he worked as SP of Adilabad and Guntur districts as well as joint commissioner of Hyderabad and commissioner of Visakhapatnam.
Awasthi, DGP of UP Police since March last year, earlier served in CBI for almost 13 years as joint director and other senior ranks. He briefly headed the anti-corruption unit in the agency that probed the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Chandra, a 1985-batch officer of Bihar cadre, earlier served as additional DG (intelligence) in Bihar, inspector general in Special Protection Group (SPG) handling Prime Minister’s security, and director general of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), before being appointed as head of SSB in January 2019.