CBI selection panel comprises the PM, the Chief Justice of India and the leader of the opposition.
The Prime Minister's Office has responded to the letter of Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge, which alleged that the appointment of CBI's acting chief Rakesh Asthana was made without a meeting of a selection committee so the charge can be given to a junior officer as RK Dutta, its Special Director, was transferred to the home ministry. The Prime Minister's office has said it is committed to the proper selection process and sought a meeting of the selection committee to appoint the agency's director.
Mr Asthana, a Gujarat cadre officer, was appointed the acting chief of the CBI on Friday. The due process of appointment of the agency's chief involves a meeting of the selection committee, which comprises the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the leader of the single largest opposition party.
In its letter, seen by the NDTV, the PMO said it was not possible to appoint a Director of the CBI because a meeting of the selection committee could not be held due to unavoidable circumstances.
"We are fully committed to follow the process of selection and appointment as per law in a fully transparent manner," the letter read. The Prime Minister's office also asked the members of selection committee to meet for the selection of a regular Director of the CBI.
In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent on Monday, Mr Kharge wrote that the "the entire process has been vitiated and is being manipulated to preempt the decision to be arrived at in the meeting of the selection committee."
As a 1984 batch Indian Police Service or IPS officer, Mr Asthana is too junior to make it to a panel of possible candidates for CBI chief's post. Critics said by appointing him as the interim chief, the government not only circumvented the need to call a meeting of the selection committee, but also built an opportunity to make the officer the CBI chief next year, when he will have the requisite seniority.