Polls in mind, central vigilance committee may avoid appointing CBI special ... - Times of India

NEW DELHI: With a controversy looming over the appointment of a special director in the CBI who could be in the reckoning as the next head of the agency, a Central Vigilance Commission meeting scheduled to meet on April 28 may shy away from taking a decision.

A committee, headed by the central vigilance commissioner, is set to consider several CBI appointments including that of Odisha director general Prakash Mishra as a special director but a decision on Mishra may be put off considering the Lok Sabha polls are on in full swing and view of criticism from BJP.

CBI officials refused to comment on the development apart from pointing out that the post of one special director is lying vacant since December last year after K Salim Ali's retirement.

At present, Anil Sinha is the only special director in the agency. A senior CBI officer questioned the timing of the meeting while the seat has been vacant for so many months.

In consultation with the CBI chief, the CVC committee comprising secretaries of home and DoPT and headed by CVC Pradeep Kumar, is empowered to recommend appointment of CBI officers above the rank of SP.

Sources said the present panel has not been prepared taking into consideration empanelment of 1980 batch IPS officers for the rank of special director in the first week of March and this could be added cause for concern.

The committee would also be considering appointments to the rank of SP and DIG. The committee was originally meant to meet on April 11, but had been repeatedly postponed, including a meeting slated for Friday. Now the committee is to meet on 28th.

Coincidentally, a PIL challenging the government's decision to overrule a recommendation of the CVC committee a few months ago is expected to come up in Supreme Court soon. Early this year, the government turned down the CVC committee recommendation to appoint R K Pachnanda, a 1983-batch IPS officer of West Bengal, as CBI additional director.

The government had appointed Archana Ramasundaram, a 1980 IPS officer. Incidentally, Ramasundaram is yet to be relieved by Tamil Nadu government, even as she has been empanelled for promotion to the rank of special director. So a fresh panel for special director rank could include Ramasundaram's name, sources said.

BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad on Friday questioned why the government seemed to be in a tearing hurry to make the appointments.

"What is the rationale behind appointing a CBI special director barely 22 days ahead of Lok Sabha results," Prasad said. He wondered if Congress was trying to cover its alleged misdeeds by making appointments at such senior level.