CBI chief post row: Delhi top cop withdraws plea from CAT

A day after senior police officer Ranjit Sinha was appointed as the next director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Friday withdrew his plea from the Central Administrative Tribunal against the government's decision to not consider his name for the top post in the probe agency.

A bench of CAT comprising Chairman Syed Rafat Alam and member R C Panda allowed Kumar's counsel to withdraw the application, observing that with the appointment of Sinha, a 1974-batch IPS officer and current Indo-Tibetan Border Police director general, the plea has become infructuous.

Kumar had moved the tribunal after protesting over the non-inclusion of his name among the three officers short-listed by the Central Vigilance Commission for being considered for the post.

Kumar, a 1976 batch IPS officer, had questioned the procedure for picking the three officers and excluding his name for the top post in the country's premier investigating agency.

The CVC-headed selection committee had cleared a panel of three senior IPS officers --Sinha, Director General of National Investigation Agency S C Sinha (1975-batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre) and former Uttar Pradesh DG Atul (1976-batch IPS officer of UP cadre).

An official order had on Thursday said Sinha has been appointed as CBI director for a "period of two years from the date of assumption of office". He will take over from present CBI Director A P Singh, who is retiring on November 30.