The high-powered selection committee headed by the Prime Minister on Monday finalised three names for the post of CBI director — SSB Director-General Kumar Rajesh Chandra, Special Secretary in the Home Ministry V S K Kaumudi, and CISF Director General Subodh Kumar Jaiswal.
The exercise, however, was not smooth, as the Opposition member in the panel — Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury — registered his dissent over the procedure of selection.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana is the third member of the panel.
It is learnt that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had on May 11 sent a list of 109 names to members of the committee. On Monday, the panel received 16 names in two tranches, along with executive sheets and other documents.
Chowdhury, it is learnt, raised this issue in the meeting. He is learnt to have asked how the DoPT could prune the list to 16 names, eliminating 93 names. Chowdhury, sources said, said it is the selection committee's responsibility to keep or eliminate names, and not that of the DoPT.
He then sought deferment of the meeting but the government did not agree, it is learnt.
Sources said the names which the DoPT sent to members of the panel include Anand Prakash Maheshwari, Vijay Kumar Singh, Somesh Goyal, Arvind Kumar, Samant Kumar Goel, Rakesh Asthana, Y C Modi, S S Deswal, Hitesh Chandra Awasthi, Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, Kumar Rajesh Chandra, Arun Kumar, Loknath Behera, V S K Kaumudi, and…