Don't tamper with us: CVC, CBI to Parliamentary Committee on Lokpal

Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and CBI Director AP Singh today opposed any tampering with their organisations as suggested by the Anna Hazare-team as they appeared before a Parliamentary Committee examining Lokpal Bill here.

Kumar and Singh, however favoured making the CVC and CBI Director ex-officio members of the proposed Lokpal, saying such a move would bring synergy between the anti-graft ombudsman and the two organisations.

Both Kumar and Singh told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, Personnel and Public Grievances that the functioning and organisational structure of CVC and CBI should remain untouched, sources said.

Kumar said CVC should continue to have jurisdiction over higher bureaucracy. "In order to have effective superintendence over vigilance administration, the CVC and the existing structure of vigilance administration should not be disturbed," he told the Committee.

The Anna Hazare team had been demanding that CVC should come under the purview of the proposed Lokpal. The civil society activists had also been demanding that the anti-corruption wing of CBI be under Lokpal.

Singh termed suggestions for putting CBI's anti-corruption wing under Lokpal as "retrogade" and said it would "cripple" the investigating agency, sources said.

He is learnt to have told the panel that the "severed" anti-corruption unit with Lokpal would be ineffective without the back-end support units of the CBI.