The Selection Committee is scheduled to meet, on the 30th of January, at 6:30 P.M., to decide who the new Chief Bureau Investigation (CBI) Director will be.
The Selection Committee comprises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mallikarjun Kharge, a senior leader of the Indian National Congress (INC,) and Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India (CJI.)
After the removal of Alok Verma, the former CBI Director, 12 candidates were shortlisted for the post of the CBI Director. Alok Verma was accused of bribery and corruption, following which he was removed as the CBI Director by the Selection Committee, on the 10th of January.
The last meeting of the Selection Committee, on the 24th of January, was unfruitful as Mallikarjun Kharge opposed the decision and asked for a detailed background of all the shortlisted candidates. The candidates were selected on the basis of their seniority, integrity, investigation skills and the anti corruption work done by them.
A senior officer at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said, “The Government does not want to take a chance this time, that’s why they have shortlisted as many as dozen officers.”
According to the Selection Committee, 4 out of the 12 candidates are said to be strong contenders for the post of the CBI Director. The top contenders among the 12 candidates are Rina Mitra, Y.C. Modi, Parminder Rai and Tirth Raj.
Rina Mitra is a Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Union Ministry and a Madhya Pradesh cadre Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1983 batch. Y.C. Modi is a Meghalaya Assam Cadre IPS officer of the 1984 batch. Parminder Rai is a Haryana cadre IPS officer of the 1982 batch and Tirth Raj is a Gujarat cadre IPS officer of the 1984 batch.
However, Rina Mitra, Parminder Rai and Tirth Raj are soon going to retire as their tenures end on the 31st of January. Therefore, if the Selection Committee does not meet before the 31st of January to decide the CBI Director, they will be out of the race.
The Selection Committee is expected to meet today, around 6:30 P.M., to finalise who the new CBI Director will be.
Stay tuned for further updates.
