The Centre has sought nominations from different ministries to expeditiously fill the vacant post of the Director of Prosecution in the CBI, which is presently working without a regular chief following the ouster of Alok Verma.
OP Verma, who served as the Director of Prosecution, completed his term on December 23 and the post has since been vacant.
The DoP is the senior most prosecutor in the agency rendering legal opinion in all the cases probed by the agency. The DoP reports to the CBI, Director. In a communication to all the government departments, the Personnel Ministry has asked for names of eligible and willing officers, not below the rank of Joint Secretary and eligible for appointment as Special Public Prosecutor, officials said.
The Personnel Ministry has asked the departments to send the names by January 25 so that “an expeditious decision can be taken for filling the post of Director of Prosecution in CBI”. The selection of the Director of Prosecution is made on the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission. It is a rare coincidence that the CBI is working without a regular chief and the DoP.
A Parliamentary panel had recently expressed concerns over vacant posts in the CBI and asked the Government to take proactive steps to ensure that it does not remain under-staffed.
“Shortage of personnel at various levels in CBI is a perennial problem. The committee has expressed its concern on this on several occasions. Vacancy in any organisation, to a large extent, can be anticipated well in advance and proactive efforts should be initiated to complete necessary procedure to fill up the vacancies on time.
The CBI seems to have failed in anticipating such a situation,” the panel had said in its report tabled in Parliament earlier this month.
The CBI is working under an interim Director M Nageswar Rao, Additional Director, after the agency’s boss Alok Verma was removed by a panel led by the Prime Minister Narendra based on a report alleging dereliction of duty and graft.