Last year, the Supreme Court raised many issues and wanted real, functional autonomy for the CBI.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi might not be able to appoint a successor to controversial CBI Director Ranjit Sinha in a hurry.
After the enactment of the Lok Pal Act - meant to give more teeth to the CBI - the director of the agency has to be appointed by a collegium of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India or his nominee and the Leader of the Opposition.
There is no Leader of Opposition and the government has decided to amend the act to include the leader of the largest opposition party as its member.
The government was keen to go ahead with the appointment without the leader of Opposition and has been told by the Law Ministry it can technically do so. But that will raise questions regarding its haste in appointing a CBI director in absence of a key participant of the collegium.
Last year, the Supreme Court had raised a number of issues and wanted the CBI to be given real functional autonomy, which it was able to get with the enactment of the Lok Pal.
The Narendra Modi government now wants to dilute some of the provisions, including taking over the administrative control of the Director of Prosecution.
The planned amendment wants the Director of Prosecution - who decides whether a case is fit for criminal prosecution - to be independent of the CBI Director and they have downgraded the post to that of a joint-secretary level officer.
A new CBI director will be needed by early December, but the appointment can only be made once the amendments are passed in the winter session of Parliament.
Until then, the CBI may have only an acting director, unless the government goes ahead and the Chief Justice or his nominee decides to take part in a selection process without the third member.