In one of the rarest decisions, the Central Vigilance Commission’s (CVC) Selection Committee has denied CBI’s Additional Director Rakesh Asthana promotion to the post of Special Director.
According to highly placed sources privy to the Selection Committee minutes, the meeting chaired by CVC KV Chowdary on Saturday noted some issues under the “integrity clause” in denying promotion to Asthana, citing his name figured in the ongoing probe by the CBI.
This crucial decision of the high-powered Selection Committee, constituted as per the landmark Vineet Narain judgment of the SC, would hamper Asthana’s chances to continue in the CBI as his name has been shot down under the “integrity clause.”
As per the landmark judgment and the CVC Act, promotion, posting, transfer and removal of all officers from Superintendent-rank onwards in CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have to be based on the recommendation of the CVC Selection Committee to prevent political interference. This judgment was passed after the Jain Hawala case.
CBI’s Selection Committee, chaired by CVC, has two Vigilance Commissioners, Home Secretary, DoPT Secretary, and CBI Director as members. Sources said the committee members expressed displeasure on convening this meeting urgently on Saturday, as many got meeting agenda and meeting details on Friday evening only, sources said.
CBI’s Delhi Unit had registered a detailed FIR on August 30 against three senior Income Tax Commissioners for accepting bribe from Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech and Sandesara Group of Companies. The case was related to malpractices and accepting of bribes from the companies and calling off an Income Tax raid in the middle in mid-2011.
The FIR said a “Diary 2011” was found from company which details the monthly payout details to these accused Income Tax Commissioners and several police and politicians in Gujarat and Delhi. Sources indicated that the diary noting contained Asthana’s name, who was then serving in Gujarat cadre.
The Selection Committee observed that when the agency is probing the case, the persons mentioned in the dairy should not be in the CBI. The decision was unanimous as per the file notings of the meeting. A sealed cover was placed before the Selection Committee Meeting regarding the details of the probe findings on the bribes accepted by many officers from Sterling Biotech and Sandesara Group, said sources.
Saturday’s urgently convened meeting had only two agendas. One was consideration of promotion of Asthana belonging to 1984 batch as Special Director and appointment of five Joint Directors in CBI. The Selection Committee deferred consideration of appointment of five Joint Directors, citing that Minutes and notice for the meeting were received few hours before on Friday evening and this practice should not be done in future.
Earlier in 2014, the CVC in a similar manner had rejected the appointment of Archana Ramasundaram as Additional Director in CBI. But then CBI director Ranjit Sinha appointed Archana and the appointment was struck by Supreme Court in a petition filed by activist Vineet Narain.