New twist to search for CBI chief

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, JULY 18. The Vajpayee Government's search for a permanent director for the Central Bureau of Investigation became further complicated after a minor development yesterday in the Supreme Court. As a result of a legal move, the man on top of a short- list of potential nominees remains under a ``judicial cloud''.

On April 17, a panel, as per a three-year-old Supreme Court directive, had short-listed three possible officers to succeed Mr. R.K. Raghavan, who was to retire at the end of that month. The panel, as per the Supreme Court directive, was headed by the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Mr. N. Vittal, and included the Union Home Secretary, Mr. Kamal Pande, and the Personnel Secretary, Mr. B.B. Tandon.

This panel had short-listed three IPS officers: Mr. H.J. Dora (A.P. cadre), Mr. J.S. Chaubey (U.P. cadre) and Mr. K. Chakraborty (Gujarat). The Vittal Commission has devised a strange argument that it could consider only those officers who had more than two years left in the service and therefore could function as the CBI director at least for two years, as per the 1998 Supreme Court directive.

Unfortunately within days of the Vittal panel's labours, Mr. H.J. Dora, came under a ``judicial cloud''. On April 19, 2001, the Supreme Court had before it an appeal against an order which had questioned Mr. Dora's judgment when he was Commissioner of Police in Hyderabad. The court had held that in its prima facie view Mr. Dora had exercised his power under Section 20-A of TADA ``in a very casual manner.''

This stricture was seized upon by the Vajpayee Government to delay acting on the Vittal panel's list. Instead, it appointed Mr. R.C. Sharma as the officiating director of the CBI. Mr. Dora was widely seen as a ``nominee'' of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and it was deemed unwise on the part of the Central Government to have such an officer in such a crucial position. Also, there was criticism that the Vittal panel had devised new rules to keep some officers out of the fray.

Yesterday, the Andhra Pradesh Government withdrew its appeal in the case between the State of Andhra Pradesh versus Mohammed Shamsuddin. Since the Additional Solicitor-General did not press the appeal, the Justice K.T. Thomas-Justice R.P. Sethi Bench exempted Mr. Dora from making a personal appearance. In other words, Mr. Dora remains ``strictured''.

Enquiries reveal that the Vajpayee Government would be inclined to scrap the entire panel. The thinking is that the Prime Minister has already gone out of his way to propitiate the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister by giving an extension to the Cabinet Secretary. And, in giving this extension, the Union Government has refuted the Vittal logic.

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