CBI's Special Director appointment put on hold for next govt

The process for appointment of a Special Director in CBI was today put on hold for the next government by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
A meeting was called by the CVC to decide on one name among a panel of eligible officers which included Prakash Mishra, Director General of Police of Odhisa, K S Balasubramaniam, DGP (Kerala) and Rajan Gupta, chief of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), official sources said.
"It has been decided to put on hold the process of appointment of Special Director in CBI for the next government," a source said.
However, the names for appointment of one Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and five Superintendents of Police (SPs) were cleared during the meeting, the sources said.

The meeting was chaired by Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and two Vigilance Commissioners -- J M Garg and Rajiv, Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Secretary S K Sarkar and CBI Director Ranjit Sinha, they said.
As per rules, the name of one officer shortlisted during the meeting has to be sent to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for further orders.

Among the three officers considered eligible for the post of Special Director, Mishra has a longest tenure till February 2016. Balasubramaniam and Gupta would be retiring by May 2015.

Mishra, who has worked in the CBI as well as National Investigating Agency, is among the front runners for the post which had been lying vacant for the past five months after the retirement of K Saleem Ali on November 30 last year.
BJP had questioned the hurry on the part of the Government to fill the senior positions including that of the Special Director in the CBI.
"What is the hurry and rationale behind rushing through an important appointment like this in the country's premier investigation agency?," BJP had asked.