CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER ACHAL KUMAR JOTI
Appointed Chief
Election Commissioner In July 2017, is in office till January 2018.
Former Election
Commissioner and former Chief Secretary, Gujarat (2010-2013).
Was appointed Election
Commissioner in May 2015, is a 1975 Batch IAS officer.
It is said he
maintains low profile and largely had remained non-controversial before
becoming the CEC.
The Opposition
is alleging him of working on the government’s behest after delayed
announcement of the Gujarat election last year.
He was also accused
of bias by Arvind Kejriwal in ‘offices of profit case of 21 AAP MLAs.
ENFOREMENT DIRECTORATE (ED) – DIRECTOR KARNAL
SINGH
Appointed ED Director
in October 2016, was due to retire in August 2017 but got extension in February
last year following a Supreme Court order. He was given a fixed tenure of two
years to make it compliant with the CVC Act and accordingly, he will retire in
October 2018.
Before it, he was ED Special
Director and was holding additional charge of ED Chief.
He is a 1984 Batch IPS
officer.
Former
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has accused the ED of abusing power on direction
of the Modi Government – ED is probing Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis Case.
CENTRAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION (CBI) DIRECTOR ALOK VERMA
Former
Delhi Police Commissioner, appointed CBI director in January 2017.
From
AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories) Cadre.
Before
it, Verma had never worked in the CBI, so his appointment was a departure from
norms.
The
Supreme Court guidelines say the person heading the CBI should have prior CBI experience.
The
Government cited his experience in vigilance behind his appointment as the CBI Director.
Congress
didn’t support his appointment – The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok
Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge Said "Selection must be made according to law,
merit and seniority.”
The three-member panel that selected him included Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, then Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress was supporting RK Dutta, a senior official from the Ministry
of home affairs, saying Dutta had over 17 years of CBI experience.
CENTRAL VIGILANCE COMMISSION (CVC) CHIEF K V
CHOWDARY
KV Chowdary was
appointed CVC in June 2015, for a term of four years.
He is a former Indian
Revenue Service (IRS) officer, 1978 Batch.
Former Central Board of
Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chief, Chowdary’s appointment by the Modi Government was
again departure from established norms.
Before Chowdary, all
other CVCs, since its inception in 1964, were IAS officers.
His appointment was
criticised by Ram Jethmalani and Prashant Bhushan – they raised the point that
he lacked credentials for the job
Bhushan
wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi where he alleged that Chowdary had visited
former CBI Director Ranjit Sinha while the 2G probe was on. All such visits to
Sinha by various people during the 2G probe were considered suspicious by the
top court.
Bhushan
further alleged that Chowdary’s investigation into 2G related tax evasion cases
gave clean chit to all, unlike the progresses made by agencies like CBI and ED in
other 2G cases.
Bhushan also
alleged that Chowdary himself was under suspicion in a stock scam.
Jethmalani
also wrote a letter to Modi alleging that Chowdary was totally unfit for the
job – he also alleged that Chowdary was involved in a stock scam.
©SantoshChaubey