SC to hear plea challenging Nageswara Rao’s appointment as interim CBI director

New Delhi, Jan 16: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear next week a plea filed against the appointment of M Nageswara Rao as interim Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Rao took over the top job last Friday after Alok Verma was sacked as the chief the agency by a high-powered panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A plea was filed in the top court on Monday seeking a direction to quash the January 10 order of the government appointing Rao as an interim director.

The petition, filed by NGO Common Cause is seeking to quash the January 10 order of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet that named Rao as the acting CBI chief for a second time.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge termed the appointment of Rao as interim chief as 'illegal' and in a letter to the PM Modi urged that a meeting of the selection committee should be called immediately to choose a new CBI Director 'without further delay'.