The top court said that after the 1998 verdict, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act had been amended to include the provision of seeking the committee’s permission to transfer a CBI director. In the Lokayukta Act the selection committee for the CBI chief has been upgraded to include the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. The committee’s consent is necessary for the removal or transfer of the CBI director. purely of transfer, such an interpretation would be self-defeating and would clearly negate the legislative intent,” the court said. The State could not be entrusted with the responsibility of divesting the CBI chief of his powers without the committee’s consent as this would seriously erode the institution’s independence, the court said.

Source: The Telegraph January 08, 2019 21:11 UTC