New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Special Director, Central Bureau of Investigation and said his appointment “does not suffer from any illegality”.
Dismissing a writ petition filed by the NGO Common Cause challenging Asthana’s appointment, a bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre said, “We cannot question the decision taken by the Selection Committee which is unanimous and before taking the decision, the director, CBI, had participated in the discussions and it is based on relevant materials and considerations.”
On the allegation that an FIR had been registered based on Income tax raids in the premises of Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech and Sandesara Group of Companies and there was a reference to his name in the diary seized, the bench said even in the FIR filed by the CBI, the name of Rakesh Asthana has not been mentioned at all.
