CBI under stress with 2,300 unsolved cases for last 10 years

The efficiency tag of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s premier investigating agency, is severely under stress with at least 2,300 cases remaining unsolved for more than a decade.

The agency has at least 1,000 cases pending for more than 15 years and 381 cases for more than two decades. The CBI has just updated its performance assessment, in which it tabulated the list of pending cases up to April 2011. But it has neither profiled these cases nor given any reason for the delay in solving them.

The statistics tell their own story. The CBI is headquartered in New Delhi, the country’s seat of power. But the state has the highest number of cases pending trial — at least 458 for more than 10 years. The breakup is like this: 257 pending cases for 10 to 15 years, 137 for 15 years and 64 for 20 years. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat follow Delhi with 338, 282, 264 and 156 cases pending respectively for more than 10 years.

Though the CBI chose not to explain the delay, K Madhavan, former joint director of the CBI, said, “The pile-up happens due to various tactics used by influential accused. They want to delay the case. This is one of the main reasons why 99% of the cases move slowly in CBI courts.” The man who had tracked the Bofors and the securities scam cases, however, refused to specify such ‘influential accused’.”

Madhavan said he was confident that the pile-up would be cleared fast during the tenure of the current CBI chief. He, however, defended the agency saying “the CBI cannot be blamed once it has filed a charge sheet as it has nothing to do with a case after that”.

Joginder Singh, director of the CBI from July 1, 1996 to June 30, 1997, said the CBI is not independent. “It has to take the Centre’s permission to prosecute government officials holding high ranks,” he said. “The 2G scam is a case in point. Former telecom minister A Raja, a prime accused, could be arrested a year after the case was filed.”

For Singh, it is also staff shortage that leads to delay. “In 2009, the prime minister had promised to set up 71 fast-track courts but only a few are functioning now,” he said.

The CBI had 30% posts vacant in May this year. The sanctioned strength of the CBI is 6,539 but the actual figure is 5,100. The vacancies exist at all levels and affect the agency’s performance. The highest, 211 posts, is at the sub-inspector’s level. The other vacant slots are: 199 posts for inspectors, 177 for constables and 106 for public prosecutors.

Apart from filling up the existing vacancies, Madhavan said plea bargain should be introduced where a defendant can be offered an opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original one, with a recommendation for a lighter than the maximum sentence. This will reduce the number of pending cases, he said.

AP Singh, director of the CBI, has gone on record seeking a solution to the staff shortage problem. He told the media that the central and the state governments were not meeting its requirement through deputation of additional officers though the agency was being loaded with fresh cases from various states, the Centre and the courts.