After the Supreme Court pulled up the Centre for the delay in appointing the CBI chief, Narendra Modi headed high powered committee appointed ex Madhya Pradesh Police Chief Rishi Kumar Shukla as the chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation, a premier investigating agency of India.
Former Madhya Pradesh Director General of Police Rishi Kumar Shukla, a 1983-batch officer, has been appointed the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, said a government notification. His name was chosen from a shortlist of over 30 contenders for the top post by a committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shukla will head the CBI for a period of two years, the notification added.
The announcement was made a day after the second meeting of a high-powered committee comprising PM Modi, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
The 58-year-old officer from Gwalior is at present the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation.
On Friday, the Supreme Court pulled up the centre for the delay in appointing the CBI chief and said it was “averse” to the arrangement of an interim CBI director. However, three top court judges recused themselves from the case for various reasons.
The post of CBI director is “sensitive” and “important”, and it is not good to keep an interim director of the agency for longer period, the top court had observed.
The post of the CBI chief had been vacant since the unceremonious exit of Alok Verma, who had been engaged in a bitter fight with his deputy and Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana over corruption allegations.
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However, Opposition Leader Mallikarjun Kharge who is a member of the committee that selects CBI chief said he was did not give his assent to Shukla’s appointment for the post. He in his dissent note to the Prime Minister expressed his objection over the appointment of Shukla as new CBI chief on account of his lack of experience in anti-corruption agencies.
