Gujarat cadre IPS officer Praveen Sinha, currently Additional Director of the CBI, was appointed as its interim chief on Wednesday as current chief R.K Shukla’s two-year tenure ended.
Wednesday was the last day of work for Mr. Shukla, a 1983 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer, who was appointed in January 2019.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued a notification appointing Mr. Sinha, a 1988 batch Gujarat cadre IPS, to take over as the CBI’s interim chief till the appointment of a regulator director.
Top sources in the government told The Hindu that Mr. Sinha will officiate as CBI chief for a couple of weeks.
The Centre has initiated the process of new appointment. It has drawn a panel of eligible officers belonging to 1984 to 1986 batches.
Asthana on panel
“Those in the panel include BSF chief and Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana, NIA chief Y.C. Mody, CISF chief Subodh Jaiswal and Kerala DGP Loknath Behera,” a top insider said.
Mr. Asthana, Mr. Mody and Mr. Behera had served in the agency handling sensitive cases.
The government will soon call a meeting of the high-powered committee — comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha — to pick the new CIA Director.
It may be noted that Mr. Asthana was earlier No. 2 in the agency when Alok Verma was the director. However, an open and ugly fight between the two pushed the government to remove them both at midnight and install Nageshwar Rao as in charge director in 2018.
The post is a tenured one, meaning any officer who is selected for the job is at the helm for two years irrespective of the superannuation.
