NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of senior Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana as a special director of the CBI.
A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre said, “We cannot question the decision taken by the Selection Committee, which is unanimous and before taking the decision, the CBI Director had participated in the discussions and it is based on relevant materials and considerations. Further, even in the CBI FIR, the name of Rakesh Asthana has not been mentioned at all. Thus, lodging of FIR will not come in the way of considering Asthana for the post of special director, after taking into consideration his service records and experience.”
During the hearing, the Centre opposed the plea, saying Asthana had had an outstanding career and supervised over 40 high profile cases, including the coal and AgustaWestland scams, black money and money laundering. The order came on the plea of Common Cause, an NGO, opposing Asthana’s appointment, saying it was illegal as his name had surfaced in a diary recovered during a raid conducted by the Income Tax Department at the offices of Sterling Biotech Ltd.