The new CBI director will be judged by high standards of probity

A new CBI chief is in position. Ironically, he is another Sinha from Bihar. It's amazing that the state produces so many civil servants who reach high levels in government. Anil Sinha is no newcomer to CBI. He is already its special director. His elevation does not come as a surprise, if one reckons his track record. He is humble and suave and capable of doing very well.

But his job is cut out for him, given the mess the organisation finds itself in. I am happy that the process of selection is now more credible than before. The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), who used to do the initial vetting, has been replaced by a galaxy comprising the Prime Minister, leader of the single largest party in the Lok Sabha (if there is no officially recognised leader of the Opposition, as is the case now), and the Chief Justice of India or his nominee from the Bench. This is the best we can have at this juncture. What we are, however, looking for is a CBI leadership that will perform honestly and professionally within the framework of the Constitution. It should learn to say ‘no’ to the mightiest in the country when that is warranted, but at the same time realise that it is accountable to the law and to the democratically elected.

It is in the court-monitored cases that the CBI has tripped up very badly in the recent past. When the court says that a particular investigation should be totally independent and not be influenced by extraneous forces, it has to be taken seriously. An enlightened Executive will certainly understand the CBI’s predicament here. If a CBI chief tries to be popular with an interfering authority, he will come to grief, as did Ranjit Sinha, the former CBI director.

My impression is that Ranjit Sinha overturned his subordinates far too often and thereby opened himself to the charge of misconduct. I hope his successor will not commit the same mistake. It is not as if a CBI director cannot have his own views against those of lower level officers. But such a rejection of the stand of subordinates should be arrived at in a transparent manner — in consultation with the latter — and in the office. Certainly not in the cool confines of a director’s home. Even walls have ears, especially in the present times when an act of impropriety is exposed in amazingly quick time by a whistleblower in concert with an inquisitive and prying media. This is how things will be and should be in a vibrant democracy as ours.

A word about the CBI officers. A majority of them are a directly recruited group. Only a small number are drawn from the state police, and even smaller number from the IPS pool. CBI direct-recruits have a permanent grouse against the deputationists whom they consider as birds of passage. This is unexceptionable. Something drastic needs to be done to push up morale at the lower levels. It is not as if successive directors have been insensitive. The point is, much more needs to be done if we want to get the best out of them. Or else there will be the disagreeable offshoot in the form of corruption in the ranks. There are already public complaints on this score. It is better for the CBI top brass to initiate disciplinary action against an erring official, rather than the public or the media going to town with this.

Anil Sinha will be judged by very high standards of probity. There is no reason to believe he will not pass the test.

The writer is a former CBI Director