With no agreement in place to nominate a new director, the Centre on Wednesday made up its mind to give CBI Director Praveen Sood an extra year in service.
A Karnataka cadre IPS officer of the 1986 batch, Sood was to go on leave on May 24 after the culmination of his two-year term. However, the successor could not be identified due to ongoing negotiations between the key decision-makers.
The Cabinet Appointments Committee, on the advice of the Committee, has approved the extension of tenure of Shri Praveen Sood, IPS (KN:1986) as Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by one year after 24.05.2025," a government notification stated.
The selection of the CBI Director falls in the purview of a senior panel comprising the Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
An earlier meeting this week involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi, and Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna decided on appointing the next CBI chief. But the discussion was said to have concluded without any agreement.
Praveen Sood is born in the year 1964. Praveen is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. He became part of the IPS in 1986 and initiated his policing stint as Assistant Superintendent of Police at Mysore in 1989.
He carried out several important responsibilities year after year including being Superintendent of Police at Bellary and Raichur and Deputy Commissioner of Police for law and order duties in Bengaluru.
Sood was sent abroad in 1999 as a Police Advisor to the Government of Mauritius and served there for three years, having direct exposure to paradigms of law enforcement in Europe and North America.
He returned to India in 2003 on leave of absence for advanced studies and enrolled in a postgraduate course in Public Policy and Management, conducted jointly by IIM Bangalore and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York.
Throughout his tenure, Sood has served in significant roles in Karnataka as well as nationally. His tenure as Director of CBI has been characterized by leading high-profile investigations and embarking on structural reforms in the agency.
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