New Delhi: The high-powered selection committee is likely to meet on January 24 to appoint the new CBI director, sources said here.
The panel comprises Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the largest opposition party – Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge – and Justice A.K. Sikri. Sikri is standing in for Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
The sources said the government had proposed the meeting on January 21 earlier while Kharge wanted the meeting on January 24 or 25.
After mutual consultations, the government has finalised January 24 as the date for the meeting to select the new CBI director, a post which is lying vacant ever since the government removed Alok Verma and appointed him as Director General Fire Service.
Also read: With 2:1 Majority, CBI Chief Alok Verma Sacked By High-Level Panel Led By Modi
IPS officer M. Nageswara Rao is presently the interim director of the CBI.
The Congress has been attacking the prime minister for not appointing a regular CBI director.
In a letter, Kharge, the lone dissenting voice in the January 10 meeting, said that the committee “chose to take a decision based on a report that now stands disowned by Justice Patnaik who was asked by the Supreme Court to monitor the CVC’s inquiry”.