https://thewire.in/government/notification-new-cbi-director-subodh-kumar-jaiswal-centre-caged-parrot Text of Centre's Notification Appointing New Director Ensures CBI Remains a 'Caged Parrot'
Flying in the face of a Supreme Court directive, the Centre has reserved the right to remove Subodh Kumar Jaiswal before his term ends.
The notification said the ACC, based on the panel recommended by the committee, had:
“approved the appointment of Shri Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, IPS (MH:1985) as director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a period of two years from the date of assumption of charge of the office or until further orders whichever is earlier (emphasis added) ”.
Thus it is clear that while the law envisages transfer of the CBI director before he completes two year tenure, with the prior approval of the HPC, the law does not at all contemplate his removal from office before the end of his tenure. Therefore, the ACC’s note approving the appointment of Jaiswal is not only mischievous, but flies in the face of a clear and unambiguous ruling of the Supreme Court in the Alok Verma case against any direct and indirect meddling in the functioning of the CBI’s director. Worse, the official note is tantamount to the government wielding a Damocles sword over the CBI director, even before he assumed office.