by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Special report
CBI's Director of Prosecution appointment in Limbo
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Nov 23
With the uncertainty over the fate of the CBI director continuing, the functioning of its vital prosecution wing has also been hit hard. The appointment of a full time Director of Prosecution (DoP) has been held up despite the government advertising for the post months ago. The government was forced to extend the tenure of the retiring Director of Prosecution, O P Verma for two months in the wake of dog fight between exiled CBI director Alok Verma & his deputy Rakesh Asthana.
The tenure of O P Verma, Director of Prosecution, was to end on October 23, 2018 after two years' tenure. But due to infighting, the appointment of a new DoP got delayed.
The government issued a special corrigendum to extend his tenure. Even he came into the controversy as reports said that Alok Verma sent the IRCTC case file to DoP instead of giving permission to arrest the suspects. The matter is under the probe.
The delay in the appointment of full time Director of Prosecution has also hampered legal work in the agency as he is under the administrative control of the probe agency's Director. Though the Central Vigilance Commission and a Parliamentary panel had recommended that the DoP should be independent of the Director CBI. The panel had suggested in December last year that the post of DoP in CBI should be of the rank and status of the Director CBI in order to ensure its independent functioning.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had stated that it would be prudent to set up an independent Director of Prosecution rather than DoP working under the Director CBI.
But Modi government bestowed all powers to the CBI director and rejected the suggestions.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had issued new rules for recruitment to the post under which civil servants, meeting eligibility criteria, working in various ministries, may also apply for the post. "An officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India are eligible to apply. The government has sought names from all ministries/departments to provide the names of the eligible and willing officers for the post. Advocates who practiced for not less than ten years as a Special Public Prosecutor, are also eligible.
The government delayed the full time appointment of the new DoP as it was wanting the Director of CBI Alok Verma to retire on February 1.
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