Succession race at CBI

While ED may enjoy continuity, change is on the cards at the CBI. With CBI director Anil Kumar Sinha set to retire in December, hectic lobbying is already underway for his position. The buzz in Delhi is that this time an unprecedented number of contenders — from Maharashtra to Karnataka, and from Tamil Nadu to Bihar — are in the fray. Observers, however, say that CBI special director Rupak Kumar Dutta is way ahead of the other contenders since he is an insider. But it’s also true that for the past many times, outsiders have been appointed as CBI directors.

According to sources, the decision on the next CBI chief will probably be taken next month. The past few times, CBI chiefs have been officers from Bihar, so this time also, the state lobby has become active. The present DG of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Krishna Chaudhary, an IPS officer of the 1979 batch, is also a strong contender. He is believed to be close to Lalu Prasad Yadav, but Sushil Kumar Modi is also lobbying for him. This time, names of two women police officers are also doing the rounds. Ranjit Sinha had originally tried to bring her, but she could not serve as the Tamil Nadu government refused to relieve her. Apart from her, DG of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) Meeran C. Borwanker is apparently also in the race. But it’s still early days, so watch this space for more.

A director for ED, at last Karnal Singh’s appointment as director, Enforcement Directorate has been cleared. He may be the first director of ED to get a fixed tenure of two years.

In September, the Cabinet Appointments Committee had given a third extension to the 1984-batch IAS IPS officer as special director of the ED. This possibly led to the PIL being filed in the Supreme Court, challenging the ad hoc appointment and subsequent extensions to Mr Singh, allegedly in contravention of the Central Vigilance Act. The court subsequently directed the government to start the process of appointing a full-time director within four weeks.

According to sources, the government has been satisfied with Mr Singh’s performance and the confirmation now is the clincher! Interestingly at the ED’s annual dinner last week revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhiya was reported as having urged the ED director to “speed up probes” and reminded him of the ED’s “poor conviction rate”. Mr Singh now has a full term to belie these perceptions!

Long innings in Madhya Pradesh In a state where babus have been transferred for merely voicing an opinion on social media networks. So it’s quite remarkable that some babus manage to stay in a posting for some period. Take Anthony J.C. DeSa, for instance. The 29th chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh also happens to be the longest serving of the current chief secretaries of all states in the country today. The 1980-batch IAS officer assumed charge as chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh on October 1, 2013, after the retirement of R. Parasuram, and has completed more than three years as the state’s top babu and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s confidante.

On his retirement, the mantle of the currently longest serving chief secretary will fall on Vivek Dhand, a 1981-batch IAS officer who assumed charge as chief secretary of neighbouring Chhattisgarh in February 2014. Coincidentally, both babus had their first posting as SDO of Burhanpur in the undivided Madhya Pradesh, where also Dhand succeeded DeSa 33 years ago. Such synchronicity is rare indeed!

Love them, hate them ignore them at national peril, is the babu guarantee and Dilip’s belief. Share significant babu escapades dilipcherian@hotmail.com