Facing the Supreme Court’s heat, the Centre has decided to convene the Selection Committee’s meeting on December 26 to decide the new CBI Director. After the passage of the lokpal Act, the CBI Director is selected by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and leader of main Opposition party in lok Sabha.
The Government invited criticism from various quarters for not convening this high-level meeting
and appointing Rakesh Asthana as interim Director, after Anil Sinha retired on December 2.
Meanwhile, in the Supreme Court, the Centre said the services of senior IPS officer R K Dutta were not curtailed at the CBI in a “malafide” manner and asserted that provisions governing the probe agency were complied with
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, was critical of the arguments of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, representing NGO ‘Common Cause’, that there was malafide in shunting out Dutta from CBI.
“This is not a service matter. Dutta is not before the court. Moreover, he has been transferred to a very sensitive post in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA),” Rohatgi said, adding that the power of transfer and posting cannot be decided by a petitioner in a PIl.