Selection panel 'differs', CBI chief may get 1-year extension

NEW DELHI: CBI director Praveen Sood is likely to get one-year extension of service amid indications that there was lack of unanimity among the selection committee's members - PM Narendra Modi, CJI Sanjeev Khanna and LoP Rahul Gandhi - during a meeting on Monday. Sources said the Congress leader has not given consent to any of the names on the list of probable successors.

Sood's two-year term ends next month. The 1986-batch IPS officer was director general of police (DGP) of Karnataka before his appointment as the agency's chief.

By seniority, 3 1988-batch IPS officers among CBI chief probables

A panel of names of the senior-most IPS officers of the country, along with their performance records, is provided to the selection committee to help it decide.

By seniority, the probables include 1988-batch IPS officers Sanjay Arora, Manoj Yadav and Kailash Makwana, who are serving as chiefs of Delhi Police, Railway Protection Force and Madhya Pradesh Police, respectively. DG SSB Amrit Mohan Prasad, DG BSF Daljeet Chaudhary, DG CISF R S Bhatti and DG CRPF GP Singh are also on the list presented to the committee on Monday, sources said.

The heads of CBI and ED can now have a maximum tenure of five years. Supreme Court had earlier prescribed two-year fixed terms for initial appointment, which can be extended by up to one year at a time. However, extensions are given on recommendation of the appointments committee.