Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi has stepped aside from hearing the petition challenging the appointment of M Nageshwar Rao as interim director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CJI has ordered to pass the petition to another bench for hearing as he would be a part of the committee meeting to select the next CBI director, reports TOI.
The petition was filed by an NGO Common Cause and social activist Anjali Bharadwaj. The petitioners sought the cancellation of Rao as interim director of CBI.
Rao had been handed the duties of CBI director Alok Verma as an interim measure.
According to the petitioners, due to improper selection process of a CBI director, the government can exercise undue influence in the appointment process, especially at the stage where candidates are shortlisted.
The committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will held a meeting on January 24 to select the next CBI director.
Due to the recent sacking of Alok Verma as CBI director by Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed selection committee, IPS officer Rao was selected as an interim director of the premier investigation agency of India.
Verma was sacked by the committee as according to them, being the head of a very sensitive organization, he was not functioning with the integrity expected of him.
Rao was an IPS officer of the 1986 batch from the Odisha cadre and the first officer in the state to use DNA fingerprinting in crime investigation while probing a rape case in Jagatsinghpur district in 1996.