Rishi Kumar Shukla takes charge as the Director of CBI

New Delhi: Newly appointed 1983 batch IPS officer (Madhya Pradesh cadre), Rishi Kumar Shukla took charge as the new CBI Director, here on Monday.

Shukla has taken charge from acting director M Nageswara Rao, who took over the post last month following the sacking of Alok Verma by the panel.

58-year-old former Director General of Police (DGP) of Madhya Pradesh, Shukla will have a fixed tenure of two years during which he will have a huge task to restore the credibility of the agency.

The Selection Committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appointed Rishi Kumar as the new Director of the probe agency.

However, one of the three-membered selection committee members, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Saturday, sent a dissent note to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Rishi's appointment as the new CBI Director.

Kharge questioned Shukla’s experience of handling corruption cases.

In his dissent note, Kharge said seniority can’t be the only criteria to chose the CBI boss. He suggested that three Indian Police Service officers — S Javed Ahmad, Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar and Sudeep Lakhtakia — were the only candidates who fulfilled the criteria in order of merit.

The Congress leader further argued that “seniority, integrity and experience in anti-graft cases should be given equal weightage in this matter to get the best suited officer.”

However, Union minister Arun Jaitley accusses Kharge’s dissent, saying he has been the constant in the panel that deals with the CBI director’s appointment and transfer.

“Mallikarjun Kharge dissented once again in the appointment of the new CBI director. Kharge dissents regularly. He dissented when Alok Verma was appointed, dissented when Alok Verma was transferred and has now dissented when R K Shukla has been appointed,” Jaitley on Facebook.

Arun Jaitley said Mallikarjun Kharge’s dissent on the transfer of Alok Verma was of political views. “He was a petitioner in the Supreme Court himself in support of Alok Verma. He should have recused himself from the Committee.”

The PM-led committee met on Friday to select the CBI chief. Kharge’s dissent note suggests that the new chief was not a unanimous choice but was selected on the basis of majority.