New CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla is likely to take charge Monday. Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was appointed Saturday, twenty-one days after Alok Verma was ousted as the chief of the investigation agency.
New CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla is likely to take charge Monday. Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was appointed Saturday, twenty-one days after Alok Verma was ousted as the chief of the investigation agency.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) named Shukla even as Mallikarjun Kharge, the Opposition leader in the Prime Minister-headed selection panel, sent a dissent note that S Javed Ahmed, a 1983-batch UP cadre officer, was more qualified for the post in line with Supreme Court guidelines and provisions of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
The appointment, for a tenure of two years, came a day after the Supreme Court Friday said it was “averse” to the arrangement of an interim CBI Director and the Centre should “immediately” appoint a regular Director. Shukla is due to retire in October 2020.
The new Director will take charge at a time when the agency has been facing an unprecedented crisis of credibility in the wake of a bitter feud between former Director Alok Verma and his then No. 2, Special Director Rakesh Asthana. M Nageswara Rao was appointed the interim CBI chief.
The standoff with the West Bengal police and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also adds to the crisis. The CBI will move the Supreme Court Monday against “obstruction of law” after a showdown between the Mamata administration and a CBI team seeking to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund scams. During the course of the fast-developing drama, that began around 6 pm, the CBI team was briefly detained.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) named Shukla even as Mallikarjun Kharge, the Opposition leader in the Prime Minister-headed selection panel, sent a dissent note that S Javed Ahmed, a 1983-batch UP cadre officer, was more qualified for the post in line with Supreme Court guidelines and provisions of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
The appointment, for a tenure of two years, came a day after the Supreme Court Friday said it was “averse” to the arrangement of an interim CBI Director and the Centre should “immediately” appoint a regular Director. Shukla is due to retire in October 2020.
The new Director will take charge at a time when the agency has been facing an unprecedented crisis of credibility in the wake of a bitter feud between former Director Alok Verma and his then No. 2, Special Director Rakesh Asthana. M Nageswara Rao was appointed the interim CBI chief.
The standoff with the West Bengal police and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also adds to the crisis. The CBI will move the Supreme Court Monday against “obstruction of law” after a showdown between the Mamata administration and a CBI team seeking to question Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund scams. During the course of the fast-developing drama, that began around 6 pm, the CBI team was briefly detained.