Ranjit Sinha is retiring as CBI director tomorrow
A meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence on Tuesday between the government, the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India will focus on the selection of a new director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, a post that has lately been steeped in controversy.
A Collegium comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India HL Dattu and the leader of the largest Opposition party or Congress, will meet for the first time ever for bipartisan selection of the next CBI director after Ranjit Sinha, who retires today.
This will be the collegium's first such selection after the new anti-corruption Lokpal law was enacted in December.
Mallikarjun Kharge, who leads the Congress in the Lok Sabha, is expected to represent the Opposition.
Ranjit Sinha was recently removed by the Supreme Court from the investigation of the 2G spectrum scam, one of the country's biggest financial scandals, based on evidence that he tried to scuttle the probe and met with several of the accused at his residence in Delhi.
The ruling BJP has pointed out that it had objected to Mr Sinha's appointment but was overruled by the previous government of Manmohan Singh.
Last week, Parliament cleared a change in rules to allow the largest opposition party to participate in the selection process even if it does not qualify for the post of Leader of Opposition. The Congress, which lost the May national election and won just 44 seats, fell short of the 55 seats needed to make the cut.
Earlier, a committee headed by Central Vigilance Commissioner used to recommend names for CBI Director.
The BJP alleges that as leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had placed on record their objections to Mr Sinha's appointment hours before the report of a parliamentary committee recommending a collegium for the CBI chief's appointment was tabled in Parliament.