NEW DELHI, Feb 10:
A controversy has erupted over the appointment of an Additional Director in CBI after Government and Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) locked horns over the choice of an officer whose track record was under question.
The row centred around Archana Ramasundaram, a 1980-batch IPS officer from Tamil Nadu, who was appointed as Additional Director last week, after the anti-corruption watchdog CVC refused to send more than one name for the post.
Sources in the Government said today that the Appointments’ Committee of Cabinet (ACC) had asked for names from CVC, which decided to send only one name for the post despite receiving a panel of names of three officers from the Department of Personnel and Training(DoPT).
Besides Ramasundaram, the others named in the panel by the DoPT were Ashok Kumar, a 1982-batch IPS officer from Tamil Nadu and R K Pachnanda, a 1983-batch IPS officer of West Bengal.
The CVC chose a name from out of the three and sent it to the ACC which had rejected it, saying that there was “dispute” over the officer and that seniority could not be ignored.
The ACC, which is headed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, asked the CVC to follow the rules and submit a complete panel before the Committee.
However, the CVC sent the name of the same officer and the Government rejected it again. The Government summoned the panel from the DoPT and selected Ramasundaram for the post.
Ramasundaram, who has served in the CBI as Deputy Inspector General and Joint Director, was selected keeping in mind her expertise in handling economic offence cases.
The woman officer, who is at present posted as Director General in the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Service Recruitment Board, had investigated Telgi stamp scam case besides other economic offence cases.
Slamming the Government, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sithraman said its decision to ignore the CVC is “in line with Congress’ attempts to dilute the institutions and not to adhere to the checks and balances and taking opaque decisions.”
“I am questioning the procedure of appointing the officer. This is the same way PJ Thomas was appointed as the CVC by it earlier,” she added.
Activist Vineet Narain said if decisions on these important appointments are taken in such a manner, then “what is the relevance of the CVC.”
“I have nothing against the officer but the issue is that why the norms were not followed,” he said.
After Ramasundaram’s return to Tamil Nadu in 2006, she had served in Economic Offences Wing of the police, administration and later in the CID.
She was promoted to the rank of Director General in November 2012 and posted as the Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services’ Recruitment Board.
During her tenure in Tamil Nadu CID, she along with her team had complied a book of important cases investigated by the department for 104 years from 1906 to 2010. (PTI)
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