A former ACP of the Maharashtra Police has filed a writ suit in the Bombay High Court seeking to have IPS officer Subodh Jaiswal’s appointment as the CBI director quashed. Jaiswal was appointed as the CBI director in May after serving as the Maharashtra director general of police (DGP). Former ACP Rajendra Trivedi has filed a complaint with the High Court, alleging that his appointment was made in violation of the Delhi Police Establishment Act and requesting the record and proceedings of the committee that accepted his candidacy.
According to the plea, the CBI director must be the senior most IPS officer with “impeccable and unbreachable credibility” and anti-corruption investigative expertise. It argued that Jaiswal was never assigned to any anti-corruption unit throughout his time as a police officer, and hence lacked the needed experience under the Act.
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According to the report, the Supreme Court issued strictures against Jaiswal in the case, which was then handed over to the CBI. The observations have not been retracted or erased, according to the appeal. The Pune court-imposed sanctions against him, and Jaiswal has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, according to the report.
According to the petition, a three-member committee deciding on his inclusion in the panel of contenders for the position would not have authorised his name if this information had been presented to them. It was claimed that with Jaiswal at the leadership of the central agency, serious bias would be given to the investigations.
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A praecipe has been filed for an urgent hearing before the HC, according to lawyer Subhash Talekar, who filed the plea on Trivedi’s behalf. Trivedi had already contested Jaiswal’s appointment as Maharashtra’s DGP, which is still unresolved. In addition, when Jaiswal was the Mumbai Police Commissioner, Trivedi filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) challenging a transfer order issued by him. In 2018, the MAT ordered Trivedi’s reinstatement. The ruling is also being challenged at the Supreme Court.
