Selection Committee headed by Prime Minister to meet on January 24 to decide on new CBI chief

A selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet on January 24 to decide on a new chief for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In the backdrop of the expulsion of Alok Verma from the post of the director and the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as the interim director of the CBI, a petition has been filed by an NGO that seeks to quash the order of January 10 by the Central government to appoint Rao as the interim director.

Seeking transparency, the PIL has noted that a regular director should be appointed with respect to the procedure specified in Section 4A of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, and amended by the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition, has also written to the Prime Minister seeking a high-powered committee meeting, earlier than scheduled, to appoint a new chief of the CBI.

In late October last year, the two top officials of the central investigative agency – Alok Verma and  Rakesh Asthana — were seen embroiled in a public spat. M Nageswara Rao was appointed as the interim CBI head as a fallout of those circumstances. Verma and Asthana were both asked by the Central government to go on leave.